The Old School

The Old School, originally a school building dated 1840 and later enlarged, now serves as an art gallery and studios. It is constructed of stone rubble, with squared sections, and has red brick dressings on the rear elevation. The roof is slate-covered, with a late 19th-century red brick chimney at the rear. The building consists of a long range with a cross-wing at the left-hand end; a projecting entrance porch adjoins the wing. The porch and cross-wing were likely added in the 1860s or 1870s.

The original long range has a four-window arrangement over two storeys, with a garret above. It features three windows per storey, each with a flat arch containing well-cut voussoirs of brown, purple, and grey-green local stone. Most windows contain three-light wood casements with thin, chamfered mullions and four panes per light, with horizontal glazing bars in the outer lights. However, the middle upper-storey window has been altered to inert opening casements, as have the middle lights of all other windows. An upper-storey window on the left-hand side has three-paned sashes. A stone plaque between the storeys is inscribed 'PILTON SCHOOL A.D. 1840.'

A ground-floor window on the right-hand side has served as a doorway at some point and may have been the original entrance. The porch has a doorway with a moulded limestone surround and a pointed arch, topped with a stone shield bearing the monogram AA. Above the doorway is a limestone window with three Tudor-arched lights and a straight hood mould. A crenellated parapet is designed to resemble a Dutch gable.

The cross-wing has a moulded, pointed-arched doorway on the left side and a two-light limestone window to the right. The second storey features a five-light window, and the gable has a three-light window, all with Tudor-arched lights and straight hood moulds; the hood mould of the gable window rises to enclose a blank shield. The gable has moulded coping and kneelers. The apex features three panels with cinquefoiled, Tudor-arched heads. At the right-hand end of the building, a stone Tudor archway leads to an external staircase. The interior was not inspected.