Former School and School House is a Grade II* listed building in the Wiltshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 29 February 1988. School and house. 3 related planning applications.
Former School and School House
- WRENN ID
- rusted-footing-holly
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Wiltshire
- Constituency
- South Cotswolds MP: Dr Roz Savage (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 29 February 1988
- Type
- School and house
- Address
- Former School and School House, Grittleton, SN14 7LD
- OS grid reference
- ST 871 788
- Coordinates
- 51.50811, -2.18703
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The former school and school house were built in 1848 by James Thomson for Joseph Neeld of Grittleton. The design incorporates significant 14th-century stonework salvaged from the rebuilding of Leigh Delamere Church. The building is constructed of rubble stone with ashlar dressings, has stone slate roofs, and features coped gables.
The west front is dominated by the exceptional 14th-century bellcote from Leigh Delamere Church. This ashlar bellcote is square in plan, set diagonally, and features massive corbels extending west and east. It has pointed openings and a row of five shafts with carved capitals at the angles; the north and south shafts extend further down and are ringed. An octagonal stone spire, topped with a finial, rises above, with raised circular plinths above the angles of the bell stage. Below the bellcote is a wave-moulded pointed open arch, a former chancel arch, and a narrow lancet window. Heavy buttresses flank the composition. A porch provides access, with a 19th-century depressed pointed doorway leading to the school house to the north, and a 14th-century moulded pointed doorway leading to the schoolroom to the south. A fine 15th-century small canopied niche, originally containing a carved Virgin and Child, is situated within the schoolroom doorway. A 19th-century depressed pointed doorway is also present on the south side. The south wall incorporates a Perpendicular 4-light flat-headed window, with cusped lights and a hoodmould, which may also be reused stonework.
The schoolroom's interior is a remarkable example of a small village school from the mid-19th century, retaining its original furnishings and an edge-grain wood-block floor. A fireplace is also present. The east wall incorporates the 15th-century reredos from Leigh Delamere Church, featuring three taller canopied niches (with cut-back canopies), six smaller niches between them, and paired finials above each, with shields between the finials and a fleuron frieze above the taller niches. A blocked east window from the original church, consisting of three stepped lights with cusped heads, is visible on the external east wall. The north side of the school house has a two-gabled, two-storey front with a chimney stack in the valley, diagonal buttresses, and two 2-light windows on each floor. One 2-light window on the west side has cusped lights.
The school opened in April 1849, closed in 1913, and was run by the same teacher throughout its operational period.
Local climate
Former School and School House receives an average of 820 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 52% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 55% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 50% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2018
- Related listed building consents — 3 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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