The School And Schoolhouse

The School and Schoolhouse is a former educational building constructed in 1867, with an extension added in 1898, designed by architect Charles Kirk. The structure is made of coursed squared stone with ashlar dressings and features slate roofs with coped gables and kneelers, decorative ridge tiles, and various stone stacks. It is designed in the Gothic Revival style, characterized by stone mullion windows with cusped heads. The building is single storey, with a two-storey schoolhouse located at the rear.

The façade facing Grantham Road consists of a six-window range of two-light windows, interspersed with buttresses that have set-offs. The central three windows support a projecting stone gable, which features an elaborately corbeled gablet that holds a stone stack and serves as a shelter for the school bell. Below this gable is an inscription panel. Small dormer gablets are positioned towards the apex of the roof. To the left is the chapel, which has lancet windows, buttresses, and a cross finial on the gable.

At the rear, the schoolhouse has a facing gable to the right, with a door set within a segmental arched doorway and a window to the left, both sheltered by a deep porch formed by a catslide roof. Above this porch is a two-light gabled dormer with shaped barge boards. The facing gable features a three-light window with a two-light window above it, while the south side of the building has two two-light windows with two elaborate two-light dormers above. These dormers are partially below the eaves, project slightly, and are made of ashlar supported on corbels.

Inside, the chapel boasts an arched brace roof that rises from wall posts and is supported by brick corbels, along with a carved piscina. The main schoolroom is said to have a similar roof design, although it currently has a suspended ceiling. This well-designed and finely detailed school and schoolhouse complex is notable for including a dedicated chapel. Charles Kirk, the architect, not only designed the entire building but also financed its construction.