Old School Room And Old School House

The Old School Room (No.2) and Old School House (No.4) are located on Old Market Street in Mendlesham. No.2 is a 15th-century house that was given to the town for use as a school in 1618. No.4 served as the schoolmaster's house and was largely built in 1873, although it includes parts of a workhouse that were added to the schoolroom in 1726. No.2 was raised in the 18th or 19th century to match later construction but still retains its original roof structure. It features timber framing and roughcast rendering, with a white brick encasement at the rear. No.4 is constructed of red brick, with bays separated by pilaster strips, and its rear wall is timber framed and rendered. The entire range has a hipped pantiled roof and consists of two storeys, with No.2 being 1½ storeys internally.

No.2 has casement windows, including an upper window that was formerly a dormer, which features diamond-leaded glass, and a boarded door. No.4 has three bays with inset sash windows that have glazing bars under segmental arches, and the upper windows are half-height. It also has a six-panel door, with the upper two panels being glazed, and a central ridge stack. Inside, No.2 displays some exposed framing in two bays, and the partition wall with No.4 features an open truss with a slightly cambered tie beam and heavy arched braces. Each end of the building has a bay with 17th-century on-edge joists. The intact 15th-century common rafter roof has heavily sooted timbers. Historical records related to the property date back to 1536 and are held at the Suffolk Record Office in Ipswich.