St Andrews Church Hall And Attached Wall

CHIPPENHAM

ST9273SW ST MARY STREET 930-1/10/208 (West side) 22/06/78 St Andrew's Church Hall and attached wall

GV II

National school, now an auction room to the ground floor. By John Darley. Dated 1837. Hall to the rear, now a church hall, mid/late C19. Limestone ashlar and squared rubblestone; slate roofs, partly crested. PLAN: 2 continuous rectangular blocks, one facing north-east to St Mary Street is an auction room, one facing south-east to the churchyard is the church hall. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; 5-window range to the main St Mary Street facade and 8-window range to the left return to the churchyard. Moulded copings to gables and eaves cornices. The rubblestone north-east facade has an ashlar plinth and projecting gabled bay, the coping continuing as a parapet to each side; triple semicircular-arched 2-light windows, the top of the stone mullions forming a Y. The principal mullions continue through both floors and the blank space at floor level has the inscription " NATIONAL SCHOOLS ERECTED by Voluntary Subscriptions In the Year 1837". This is flanked by plain walls with dressed quoins. To the right is a lower set-back range which has paired semicircular-arched windows of 4 vertical panes in a plain ashlar surround over a semicircular-arched opening with a roll-moulded arris, 4-panel door with 2-pane fanlight and narrow panels to the side. The left return has 4 gables, 3 linked to the right with small oculi are of similar height to the front gable, a slightly lower one to the left is separated by a semicircular-arched doorway and gabled porch under a coped parapet; C20 door. Each gable has paired windows similar to those over the front entrance. The church hall facing the churchyard has cresting to the ridge and to 3 gables over tall 3-light stone-mullioned windows with trefoil heads. To the left is a gabled porch to a pointed-arched doorway. The coped roof has a bellcote to the north-east gable end. INTERIOR: the church hall retains a timber roof and the school has some cast-iron pillars. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached to the right of the building a limestone rubble revetment wall approx 3m high extends northward approx 16m along St Mary Street to meet the wall of No.12A (qv) where a wall meets it at a right angle to enclose the grounds of the school. It is approx 3m high and 6m long and is high above the pavement. Attached to the left of the north-east facade, a rubblestone retaining wall fronts the churchyard along St Mary Street (qv) (included separately under Market Place) HISTORY: this was the first primary school in Chippenham using the monitorial system, one teacher to sometimes hundreds of children. (Chamberlain, Joseph A: Chippenham: Chippenham: 1976-: 97).

Listing NGR: ST9226773245