Old School House

SY19NE 1591/3/99

NORTHLEIGH NORTHLEIGH Old School House

GV II

House, former school. Dated 1844, enlarged in 18 9 and cloakroom added in 1893; the school was closed in 1957 and converted to a private house. Local flint rubble laid to, rough courses is exposed on the front; the south-west side is plastered and lightly incised as ashlar (the front was probably similar originally); stone rubble stacks topped with C20 brick; slate roof, formerly thatch. PLAN : The school faces SE. The main block, built in 1844, is a single storey large room which was heated by a stove when it was a school; partitions were inserted in 1958 when it was converted into a house, the two rooms formed were heated from a lateral stack at the back and a gable end stack; in 1975 the partitions were removed. In 1879 the school was enlarged by building a 1-room plan infants' classroom at the back. In 1893 a front porch/ cloakroom was added and a lean-to store room built on the back of the infants' classroom. The main lock is 2 storeys, the rest is single storey. EXTERIOR: originally the front had a symmetrical 3-window front arranged around a central arch-headed doorway. However the 1893 porch as built off centre affecting the symmetry .This now contains C20 French windows in the outer arch and the front doorway has its arch head blocked. The windows however are original; t ey have pointed arch heads and contain timber windows with Y -tracery (the ground floor ones! have thicker glazing bars). There is a Beerstone plaque alongside to right of the porch which is inscribed 'BUlLT AD 1844'. The roof is gable-ended. Now the front porch is used as a study and the main doorway is the late C19 one on the left (south-west) end; a plank door with overlight be d a C20 conservatory. In the right (north-east) end there is a 1879 window with brick pointed arch but not with Y -tracery. The rear extensions contain C20 casements, some with glazing bars, and lean-to to roofs. Interior: is largely the result of the 1958 renovation although there is still some 19 Joinery detail. Roof was not inspected. The School House was built on the site of the former parish Poor House. Sources: the owner, Mrs Jill Cooke, has researched the history of The School House and her work is published in 2 articles which also include much social history .(Jill Cooke; :Jill Cooke chronicles some Victorian Arrears of lgnorance', The Lady, 9 May 1986, pp. 1056- 57 .Jill Cooke; 'How to know Gentleman', Devon Life, September 1986 pp 82-3.)

Listing NGR: SY1955095862