Cheriton Primary School

Cheriton Primary School is a building that was originally a poorhouse, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, and was converted into a school in the 20th century. It features plastered cob and rubble construction, with rubble and brick stacks topped by 20th-century brick, and has a thatched roof. The long building faces the graveyard of the Church of St Matthew to the west. At the south end, a first-floor room extends over the street, supported by an arcade of timber posts. The structure primarily consists of five classrooms and is mostly single storey, with an irregular eight-window west front.

The main entrance is located left of center and is a 20th-century door set high in the wall, accessed by a flight of volcanic stone steps flanked by rubble walls that curve out to circular-section piers, with weathered ashlar coping on either side. A secondary door is immediately to the left. Most of the windows are tall 20th-century casements, while the two on the right feature mid-20th-century brick surrounds. There is a curving oven projection near the right end from a disused 18th or 19th-century stack. The ridge and eaves of the roof rise slightly left of center and dip again near the left end, with the left end gable over an exposed rubble wall that has 20th-century brick dressings. The roof is hipped to the right.

The first floor includes a single 20th-century iron-framed casement with glazing bars, and the four plain posts of the arcade rest on volcanic stone pads that are now part of the pavement kerb. These posts have been reinforced with 20th-century uprights. The rear (east) elevation has another series of tall 20th-century windows with glazing bars, arranged in the same irregular rhythm as the west front. The interior reflects the 20th-century conversion to a school. This building is believed to be the longest thatch-roofed structure in Great Britain. According to a Church Commissioners' report from 1818, it was functioning as a school and poorhouse at that time.