The Old House

TM 36 SE BENHALL MITFORD ROAD (south side)

2/26 The Old House (formerly 25.10.51 listed as Old School House)

• II

Former school house, now a private dwelling. Dated 1736 on tablet above door; substantial early C20 alterations and additions. Red brick, plaintile roof. 2 storeys and attic. Original house: 5 window range, sashes with glazing bars in flush frames, flat brick arches. Central doorway with original stone panelled architrave and cornice supported on console brackets; C19 half-glazed door. Over the doorway is an inscribed stone tablet supported laterally by consoles and headed by a broken pediment on console brackets, within which is a cartouche. To right of entrance is another inscribed stone tablet dated 1829. Coved plaster cornice; later mansard roof with 3 flat-roofed dormers. Addition to left hand side with curved Dutch style gable: 2 storeys and attic, single window range, sashes with small panes; between this and the original house is a flat-roofed section with semi-circular headed windows at ground and first floor levels and a circular window above. Interior with fine C18 mantelpieces, apparently later importations. Boundary wall to south of house surmounted by carved stone consoles. The tablet above the door reads "Sr. Edward Duke Late of this Parish Baronet. having by his Will Bequeathed A Thousand Pounds for the Building of A School & Maintenance, for A Master for ye Time being, to Instruct the Poore Children belonging to this Parish to Read & Write, in Persuance there to, this House was Erected by Edmund Tyrell Esq. (only Executor of the Said Sir Edmund Duke) in ye Year of Our Lord 1736."

Listing NGR: TM3775161260