The Old School House

The Old School House is a building dating from 1841, originally constructed as a National School and later converted into a private residence. It was closed as a school in the 1960s. The front elevation is built of volcanic trap rubble with stone dressings, while the rear block features brick dressings and quoins. Both sections are roofed with slate, with gabled ends, and have brick chimney stacks.

The school was founded in 1841 and was initially funded by subscriptions. It likely began as a simple, single-story Tudor-style schoolroom with a porch on the right side and an adjoining washroom. A later, smaller, and plainer single-story infants' schoolroom was added to the rear left, its roof running parallel to the original schoolroom. This extension featured brick quions and window dressings. The school was added to the Grant List in 1869, and the infants’ schoolroom addition may date from this period or later.

The conversion to a house involved flooring the infants' schoolroom and partitioning the front block into two rooms. Modern lean-to additions have been made to the right end and at the rear right of the original 1841 block. At the time of a survey in 1986, alterations were underway to floor the 1841 block. The front block is currently single-story, while the infants’ schoolroom is two stories high.

The front elevation features an attractive asymmetrical design with a three by one window arrangement and a gabled enclosed porch at the right end. The porch contains a chamfered arched stone doorway with a plaque inscribed "National School 1841." A rectangular window is set into the left return of the porch. The main schoolroom has a tall, transomed two-light stone window in the center, featuring four-centered arched lights, hollow-chamfered jambs, and a hoodmould. Further two-light stone windows with four-centered arched lights and hoodmoulds are located on either side. Original glazing bars remain in most windows. The right return of the 1841 schoolroom includes an arched, transomed timber window with a hoodmould, and a four-centered arched doorway with brick dressings, and a small school bell is affixed to the right gable end.

Internally, 19th-century roof trusses remain, exhibiting a tie beam, king post, and strut design. Both fireplaces have been blocked, potentially concealing interesting features. A stone plaque high on the 1841 schoolroom wall lists the original subscribers in 1841, including three members of the Carew family. The building cost £245 to construct. Historical records indicate that Mary Hellier was the schoolmistress in 1850, and Ursula Bevin served as head teacher from 1869 to 1901.