St Andrews Church Hall And Attached Wall

St Andrew's Church Hall and attached wall is a building of group value, dating from 1837 with later 19th-century additions. Designed by John Darley, the initial structure served as a national school and is now used as an auction room on the ground floor, with a church hall to the rear.

The building is constructed of limestone ashlar and squared rubblestone, with slate roofs, some of which are crested. The north-east facade, facing St Mary Street, features a 5-window range and a projecting gabled bay with triple semicircular-arched windows. The top of the stone mullions in these windows form a ‘Y’ shape. An inscription reading “NATIONAL SCHOOLS ERECTED by Voluntary Subscriptions In the Year 1837” is centrally positioned at ground level. A lower, set-back range to the right includes paired semicircular-arched windows and a decorative doorway with a 4-panel door, fanlight, and side panels.

The left return, facing the churchyard, displays four gables, the three right-hand ones linked, with small oculi matching the height of the front gable. A lower gable to the left is separated by a semicircular-arched doorway and gabled porch, with a 20th-century door. The church hall, also facing the churchyard, has cresting to the ridge and three gables above tall stone-mullioned windows with trefoil heads. A gabled porch leads to a pointed-arched doorway. The roof also features a bellcote.

The church hall retains its original timber roof, while the former school rooms contain cast-iron pillars.

A limestone rubble revetment wall, approximately 3 metres high and extending approximately 16 metres along St Mary Street, is attached to the right side of the building. This wall encloses the school grounds and connects at a right angle to the wall of an adjacent property. To the left of the north-east facade, a rubblestone retaining wall fronts the churchyard along St Mary Street.

Historically, the building was the first primary school in Chippenham to utilize the monitorial system, a teaching method involving one teacher instructing a large number of children.