School House And School

A National school and school house, now a private house, dates to around the 18th century and was remodelled as a school in 1852 when the school house was erected, as indicated by a datestone. The building was constructed by Earl Fortescue. It is largely built of stone rubble and cob, with the school house featuring granite quoins and lintels. The school house has a rag slate roof with gable ends and a brick axial stack. The school itself has a rear section dating to an earlier period, also with a rag slate roof and a stone rubble stack on its right-hand gable end. A parallel range was added to the front in the early 20th century, featuring a rag slate roof with gable ends.

The original school plan was likely that of a two-room cottage, with an end stack heating one room. In 1852, the cross-wing school house was built on the left-hand gable end, creating an overall 'T' shape. This school house has a two-room plan and features back-to-back fireplaces heated by a central axial stack, likely with a parlour to the front and a kitchen to the rear. A single-story outshot was added to the rear of the school in the later 19th century, extended in the 20th century. An additional one-room extension was added to the front of the school in the early 20th century.

The two-story school house has a front gable. It contains a four-pane sash window on each floor, with an entrance positioned between the school house and the school. The datestone reading 'National School, 1852’ is set into the gable end. The left-hand side elevation includes a 20th-century glazed double door, alongside four-pane sashes on both floors. The school section has brick dressings around the openings and a gable to the front.

The interior of the school house is largely intact, with a staircase and simple, unmoulded granite lintels over the ground-floor back-to-back fireplaces. A fireplace is partly blocked within the school.

In 1852, Earl Fortescue granted a cottage and garden to the minister and church for the education of children and adults or children of the labouring, manufacturing, and poorer classes in the parish of Michaelstow.