The Old School House

REDDITCH B MILL LANE (south side) SP 0061 - 0161 Feckenham 9/132 The Old School House

10.4.54

• II

House, used as school in C19. Dated 1611; altered 1848; restored late C20. Timber-framed with brick and rendered infill, partly pebbledashed with some brick refacing and replacement walling; machine-tiled roof and C19 ridge stack to south of centre. Three framed bays aligned north/south with chimney between central and south bay forming a baffle-entry plan; small single-bay framed wing to west of north bay. Single storey and attic with dormers. Framing: three rows of close-set studding from sill to wall-plate, long straight braces in some lower corners; south gable end appears jettied on shaped brackets but has been refaced in brick; no trusses visible externally. Gothick style windows with pointed lights throughout. East front elevation: two ground floor 3-light windows, two gabled dormers with 2-light windows; ledged and battened door to left of centre. Attic lights in gable ends. Interior: framing mainly intact, ogee stop-chamfered cross-beamed ceiling in north bay; cross-frame between north and central bay moulded with ceiling beam supported on moulded brackets inscribed with an heraldic device. Back- to-back fireplaces. Winder staircase in north bay beside which is partly concealed a blocked 3-light ovolo-mullioned window. At the south gable end of the house is a C19 lean-to addition and in the gable is a datestone on which is written "ERECTED/ AD 1611/ REPAIRED/ AD 1848". The building stands adjacent to the site of the Royal Hunting Lodge to the west of the village and the quality of the original interior detailing recently revealed inside suggests that it was a building of some significance. The present entrance is probably in its original position at the lower end of the former hall with the detailing concentrated in the upper north bay. The building was being restored at the time it was surveyed (July 1985).

Listing NGR: SP0070161630