No 2 (Former Hannah More Infants School)

A barn, later converted into a school and now a community centre, dating to circa 15th or early 16th century, with alterations from 1791-2 and extensions circa late 19th century. The building is constructed of stone rubble with limestone dressings, featuring pantile roofs with gabled ends and raised stone coping. A brick axial stack is also present.

The building comprises seven bays of an original Medieval barn, with the eighth bay rebuilt as a schoolroom circa late 19th century. Further schoolrooms and a porch were added to the south side at the same time. In 1791-2, the barn was converted into a school by Hannah More.

The north front features 2- and 3-light mullion-transom wooden windows and 2-light casements, set within segmental arch openings. A buttress with weathered set-offs is visible on the left, along with a lean-to porch with a catslide roof extending over a 19th-century extension and an 18th-century outshut on the right. The right-hand (west) gable end has three tall classroom windows. The south elevation presents segmental arch windows and a late 19th-century classroom extension with a buttress in the west angle and weathered set-offs. The east elevation, facing the church, includes the gable end of the main range with a tall segmental arch classroom window, a 20th-century outshut, and a late 19th-century classroom and porch extension.

Internally, a suspended ceiling obscures the late Medieval roof structure. Seven bays of the original roof remain, including a truncated eighth (west) bay. The roof comprises arch-braced collar trusses with cranked collars, curved wind-braces, two tiers of tenoned purlins, a diagonally-set ridgepiece, and many common rafters.

Historically, the building was potentially a tithe barn, converted into a school by Hannah More (1745-1833), an educationalist and abolitionist, for the education of poor children. Hannah More established twelve Sunday schools and three ‘greater’ schools—largely daytime and evening classes—at Cheddar, Shipham, and Nailsea; the Nailsea and Cheddar schools are believed to be the only surviving examples. The school likely closed in 1833 after her death, but subsequently reopened as a National school in 1835. The building is significant as an example of a late Medieval barn and as a surviving Hannah More school.