Heathcoat School

TIVERTON

SS9512 LEAT STREET, Tiverton 848-1/6/218 Heathcoat School 12/02/52 (Formerly Listed as: LEAT STREET Heathcoat's Girls' School)

GV II

Factory school, built to the designs of Gideon Acland Boyce for John Heathcoat for the education for the children of Heathcoat's lace-workers and for the lace-workers themselves. The school is now used as a factory shop. 1841, opened 1843. Purple ashlar masonry, rear elevations plastered; slate roof, gabled at ends; stacks with ashlar shafts with octagonal pots; cast-iron rainwater goods. PLAN: H-plan with very long rear wings. The front ranges are closed off with a cross-range at the rear forming an enclosed courtyard, the rear wings extend in two parts, possibly two phases, with an open courtyard between. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attic. Symmetrical 1:3:1-bay front, the 3 centre bays recessed with a small coped gable with kneelers. Moulded string at first floor and attic level of ends of crosswings. 2 shallow 2-storey bays to left and right wings with plain parapets and 4 segmental-headed lights with geometric glazing bars to each storey window. The panel between the windows is carved with the initials J.H., the date 1841, and swags of net of the type that was produced in the factory. The centre section has a central gabled dormer with kneelers and outer Tudor arched doorways with plank and cover strip doors. Further, similar doorways in the inner returns of the wings. The centre section has 3 ground floor 2-light stone mullioned windows with segmental-headed lights and the remains of geometrical leaded panes. 3 similar but shorter first-floor windows; small rectangular stone-framed window in gabled dormer; small 2-light similar attic windows in gables of crosswings. The rear elevations are very attractive with a cobbled yard between, small roof gables and pentices on iron posts. INTERIOR: not inspected but may retain features of interest. HISTORY: according to Mark Brayshay this is the West Country's first factory school. By March 1846 Heathcoat claimed that of the 1,218 hands employed in the factory, only thirty remained completely illiterate (p.89). Heathcoat's paternalism frequently ran in advance of government legislation. Outstanding historical importance as an example of this type. (Brayshay M: Heathcoat's Industrial Housing in Tiverton, Devon: 1991-: 82-104).

Listing NGR: SS9520012701