Former School And School House

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.