The Old School and boundary wall

The Old School and boundary wall

This is a school building and boundary wall, originally constructed in 1844, extended northward around 1880, and modified with a replacement porch dated 1913.

The walls are built from local flint with red brick diaper work and red brick dressings. The roofs are covered with clay plain tiles, with replacement ridge tiles.

The original 1844 school was a three-bay single-storey structure comprising a rectangular-plan classroom measuring approximately 9 metres by 6 metres, a central rectangular-plan porch to the front elevation measuring 1.5 metres by 1.2 metres, and a rectangular-plan projection to the rear containing an infants' classroom measuring approximately 3 metres by 2 metres, with girls' and boys' toilets accessed from the exterior. A second rectangular-plan classroom was added to the north around 1880, measuring approximately 6 metres by 6 metres. A single-storey lean-to structure was added to the west elevation of the 1880s classroom around 1900. The 1844 porch was replaced by a larger porch in 1913, and a lean-to garage was added to the north elevation in 1981.

The former school is a single-storey four-bay structure facing west to Church Street. The pitched roof features a red brick chimney stack at the junction of the 1844 and 1880s classrooms, incorporating a former vent. Each gable end has stepped coping with finials to the apices. The 1913 porch has a pitched roof gabled to the west; the single-storey rear projection has a hipped roof, and the single-storey extensions to the west and north of the 1880s classroom each have a cat-slide roof.

Each elevation is composed of local flint with red brick quoins and surrounds, a moulded red brick string course over a red brick diamond-patterned plinth infilled with flint, and a chamfered red brick plinth course. The north and south gables feature decorative diaper brickwork. The south gable bears a scrolled date plaque with "ANNO DOMINI 1844" carved in relief. The west gable of the porch bears a date plaque of "1913".

The primary entrance is through the 1913 porch, accessed by a double-leaf raised and fielded timber panelled door with wrought-iron strap hinges. The east elevation of the rear projection has a narrow timber battened door set within a pointed-arch door surround, formerly the entrance to the boys' toilet, now the kitchen. A former door opening in the south-east corner of the 1880s classroom has been blocked up.

The front and rear elevations each have three nine-light timber-framed windows, the top panes of which are bottom-hung casement windows. The south gable has a 12-light timber-framed window with casements to the top row. The rear projection has a chamfered window surround to each of its north and south elevations, containing a replacement timber window. The door opening to the former girls' toilet on the east elevation of the rear projection has been infilled with a timber window.

The 1844 classroom contains its original hammer-beam roof with camber-arched braces terminating in carved pendants. Original oak floorboards survive at the original floor level. The west wall contains a double-leaf half-glazed door to the 1913 porch, and to the left of the door is a chimney breast with a plain timber lintel added in 1913. The porch contains two sets of four hangers on the north wall, which may have been installed in 1913. The east wall of the 1844 classroom has a pointed-arch door surround leading to a kitchen, which formerly contained an infants' room and girls' and boys' toilets. The north wall of the 1844 classroom retains the original door opening between the 1844 and 1880s classrooms, though this has been divided in two by the addition of a bedroom to the north-east corner of the 1844 classroom under a mezzanine installed around 1970. The 1880s classroom has been subdivided to create a corridor and two offices. The single-storey lean-to structure off the 1880s classroom contains a pointed-arch red brick door surround with a decorative hood moulding to the exterior wall.

The original boundary wall survives, although the north-west corner may have been rebuilt around 2010, when terracotta coping was added to the south and west walls. The south-west corner contains a replacement metal gate.

The lean-to garage attached to the north elevation, dated 1981, is architecturally modest and is not included in the listing.