The Museum

The Museum is a national school built in 1844, constructed from snecked local purple stone with cream stone dressings. It features a natural slate roof and retains some cast-iron rainwater goods. Designed in the Tudor style, the building has undergone some rearrangement to accommodate the Museum's layout, likely originally featuring large classrooms in the outer wings and teachers' accommodation in the center. A new block has been added to the rear, and it has axial chimney stacks.

The exterior is two storeys high with a five-bay front. The ends of the outer crosswings project forward and are gabled with kneelers and coping. Centrally positioned plank doors are found in the first, third, and fifth bays, each with arched hoodmoulds and carved label stops. Stone plaques indicate 'Girls' over the first bay door and 'Boys' over the third. The first and fifth bays each contain three-light moulded stone windows with transoms and mullions at the first-floor level. The center bay features a gabled half dormer with a coped gable, kneelers, and a two-light mullioned window. The rest of the front elevation has two- or three-light mullion windows with hollow chamfers, all with glazing bars. An attractive pitched stone yard is located at the front, bordered by a low wall to the street.

Inside, as part of the internal reorganization for the Museum, a stair from Bampton House dating from 1749 has been incorporated. John Hayward of Exeter was a prominent local practitioner of Gothic Revival church building in Devon during the 1840s to the 1860s.