Upottery Primary School

The Upottery Primary School, incorporating a former master's house, was built around 1880. It is constructed from local flint rubble with Bathstone ashlar detailing; the flint rubble stacks are now disused and their chimneyshafts have been demolished, and the building has a tile roof. The plan combines the school and the former master's house. The school faces west, with the school itself positioned to the left and centre (north), and the house to the right (south). The school section has a T-shaped layout, comprising a central block and a projecting crosswing at both the front and back. An entrance porch is situated on the front, set at the angle between the two wings. The former master's house is attached to the right end of the central block and has an L-shaped plan. A two-room block adjoining the school forms another, subtly projecting crosswing. A single-room projecting wing is on the outer back side, with another entrance porch in the angle of its wings. The school is single-storey, although almost as tall as the two-storey house. The architectural style of the school is Early English, while the master’s house displays early Tudor characteristics. Externally, the building has a chamfered ashlar plinth and eaves cornice, horizontal bands of Bathstone ashlar, and all gables have shaped kneelers and coping. The front of the axial school block features a triple lancet window. The porch has a blocked two-centred arch doorway with a hoodmould and stop-chamfered label stops. The front crosswing presents a large transomed three-light window with simple uncusped plate tracery, a hoodmould and block label stops; a similar window is found at the rear, alongside two matching two-light windows with gables over. The front gable displays a plaque carved with the Sidmouth arms and a round-headed hoodmould. The front of the former master's house has a three-light ground floor window and a two-light first floor window, both square-headed and transomed, with the upper tier of lights being shoulder-headed. A pointed arch above each window is filled with a chequered pattern of black flint and Bathstone blocks. The porch doorway is also a shoulder-headed arch. The interior of the building has not been inspected. The Upottery Primary School is one of a group of 19th-century buildings constructed at the expense of Lord Sidmouth, and contributes significantly to the character of the village.