Walcot Church Hall (Antique Markets)

This is a church school, later used as an antiques market and recently converted into flats. It was built in 1840, with 20th-century additions by the architect James Wilson. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar with a slate roof, the main block being hipped with two large hip-roofed glazed lights to the ridge. The building has an irregular, triangular plan.

The exterior features a three-story design, including a plinth that varies in height to accommodate the sloping site. Repeated architectural details adorn the complex plan. The building is encircled by a cornice and blocking course supported by tall paired consoles above clasping pilasters to the quoins. These consoles rise from an impost cornice to moulded arcades of two-story recesses featuring windows on both floors. The first floor has semicircular arched three/three-pane sash windows with margin panes, while the ground floor has cornices over flat-arched four/four-pane sashes with margin panes and horizontal glazing bars. A simple cornice and stepped frieze is present on the plinth. The principal north-west facade is a seven-window range. The end bays step forward as towers, featuring rusticated quoins and parapets with pierced vertical panels. Some set-back windows in the plinth are blocked; one to the inside-left has 20th-century double doors, and one to the inside-right bears a plaque stating the building's purpose and date. The walls extend outwards for approximately 3 meters from each end, terminating in piers. A wall to the right fronts steps leading to a 20th-century door with radial glazing bars to the fanlight and a hood on brackets on the south-west side of the right-hand tower. Similar windows are located above and to the returns. A projecting canted block to the right of the tower, facing south, has two recessed windows on each side and one to the front, all with clasping pilasters to the quoins. Above the front pediment is a dentil cornice over a raised, recessed panel inscribed 'WALCOT SCHOOLS'. Centrally, a blocked segmental arched doorway is topped with a hood on consoles and a large eight-pane overlight. Tall six/six-pane sash windows flank the doorway on each return. A short block projects from the rear right of the canted block, with three stories above the plinth (covered by a later addition), all featuring an arcade of three semicircular arched windows with large keystones. The interior was not inspected. Historically, this prominent building was cleverly sited on an awkward, sloping apex and formed part of a philanthropic institution in the area. A stone plaque near the entrance, accessible from The Vineyards, details the circumstances surrounding the building's construction.