Old School House

The Old School House, dated 1708, is a disused schoolhouse located in Bargates, Whitchurch. It is constructed of red brick with painted grey sandstone ashlar dressings and features a plain tile roof. The building is one storey high with an attic. It has a plinth with a moulded stone top, chamfered stone quoins, a wooden modillion eaves cornice, and parapeted gable ends that have shaped stone kneelers and stone coping. There are integral brick end stacks, with the left stack consisting of three square shafts that have chamfered corners and a stone base and cap.

The facade is arranged in a 2:1:2 bay pattern, with a central quoined break that has a steep triangular pediment adorned with dentils. There are pairs of dormers featuring 2-light wooden casements with wooden cills supported on small wooden brackets, and steep triangular-pedimented gables also with dentils. The windows are wooden cross windows with moulded stone cills and gauged-brick heads that have raised keystones. The central entrance has a mid-19th century half-glazed four-panelled door framed by a bolection moulded stone architrave and an early 19th century returned hoodmould. Above the door is a moulded stone tablet inscribed: "SCHOOL / FOUNDED BY / JANE HIGGINSON / MDCCVIII".

At the rear, there is a gabled wing with a 2-light wooden attic casement and two ground-floor wooden cross windows that have segmental relieving arches. Inside, there is a dog-leg oak staircase from around 1708, featuring a closed string, splat balusters, a moulded handrail, and square newel posts with moulded caps. There is also an 18th century boarded door beneath the stairs with H-L hinges. The Whitchurch grammar school was founded in 1548 by the Rev. John Talbot and opened in 1550. This building, which was later used as the infants school, has seen further additions to the east in 1848 and 1926, but the school has since merged and relocated to another site.