Former Hele's School

Former Hele's School

A school of 1849 designed by John Hayward, with additions by Edward Ashworth in 1861 and E H Harbottle in 1873. The complex also includes a mid-19th-century covered playground. All buildings have undergone later alterations.

School House (St David's Buildings)

The main school building is constructed of coursed grey Chudleigh limestone with Bath stone dressings, though some sections have been repaired or added in brick. The roofs are slate-covered. Window frames are a mixture of iron casements and modern uPVC units. The original design followed the Old English Gothic style with characteristic limestone and Bath stone detailing.

The plan comprises a large central school room with smaller classrooms in short transverse wings to each end. The east wing contains the main entrance and has a first-floor classroom. In 1861 and 1873, the building was extended to the north-east and north-west with additional classrooms set towards the rear. The north-east extension link was rebuilt later in the 19th century on a broader footprint. A single-storey brick addition of 20th-century date was added to the east flank.

The principal south-east elevation features four central bays with projecting gabled bays to each side. The right gabled bay contains modern steps and ramp leading to the main school entrance. A projecting central feature with quoins and offsets rises to a bellcote with bell. The entrance door is arched with a stopped hoodmould and elaborate iron strap-hinges, with a stone plaque carved with the Hele family crest above. At first-floor level is a lancet window with cinquefoil head and hoodmould. The four regular bays to the left contain mullioned and transomed windows, though the outer two have been adapted to door openings with red brick jambs as part of early 21st-century restoration work. Brick infill marks where former buttresses stood. The left end bay is gabled with coped verges and set forward, featuring a central arched opening with mullions and transoms.

To the right of the main entrance is an attached wall with a sealed arched doorway. A single-storey red brick toilet block of 20th-century date adjoins the north-east flank. At the centre of this flank is a chimney with offsets rising to twin octagonal shafts with battlements. To the right, the flank connects to the north-east classroom and has a coped gable facing north-west and an arched door with iron strap-hinges facing south-west. The rear of the 1849 classroom has four openings under flat heads with modern frames and buttresses with offsets between them. The north-east classroom is of coursed grey limestone on a plinth with mullioned and transomed openings, some with hexagonal tracery. The gables are coped and kneelered with a centrally-positioned opening under a stone relieving arch and two quatrefoil vents above. A chimney on the north wall rises to a battlemented octagonal shaft.

The west flank includes later 19th-century additions, notably a north-west classroom set back in stages from the principal building line. An entrance with plain architrave and head sits under a lean-to roof. At upper level is a set of four-light window under roundels with shaped hoodmould and wide mullions. Higher in the gable are four trefoil vents set in a Bath stone band. The south-west elevation has a mullioned window and modern flat head, with a stone ridge stack on the roof displaying trefoil decoration. The north-west classroom has mullioned and transomed windows, those to each end elevation under two-centred arches with tracery, and Bath stone vents and bands in the coped gable above. A lead turret sits on the ridge, and both roofs to this later 19th-century addition are covered with terracotta ridge tiles.

Interior features include three principal classrooms with arch-braced roofs supported on corbels. The barrel-vaulted roof to the later north-west classroom has slender principals and corbels with foliate designs at the base. A tiled chimneypiece was recorded in the north-west classroom in 2007. The north-east classroom has a fireplace with stone mantel. The stair to the first-floor classroom has a ramped handrail, shaped newels and stick balusters. Original iron window catches and 19th-century joinery survive, though most fittings are of 20th-century or later date, with some window units being modern replacements.

Covered Playground (Study Centre)

This rectangular building on plan comprises five bays along its principal south-east elevation. It is constructed of grey ashlar limestone with red rubble stone to the rear wall and Bath stone voussoirs to the arches.

The south-east elevation features a projecting central entrance bay with a steep gable and two-centred arch, with a freestone tablet above. The arches to each side are depressed and spring from chamfered ashlar piers. These arches were enclosed in the early 20th century and now have 21st-century glazing. A brick dentil eaves cornice runs across. The end gables are coped and kneelered with stone apex finials. The south-west flank has a door with four-centred arch and stopped hoodmould, and a trefoil ventilator in the gable. The north-east flank has a sexfoil vent in the gable, and the south-east corner is attached to the adjacent classroom by a stone arch. The rear wall is of uncoursed rubble stone.

The interior is spanned by an exposed principal-rafter roof with braced collar beams, all chamfered. The structure has been strengthened with iron ties and I-beams.