Former Primary School Including Playground Retaining Wall Railings and Gatepiers to North and North East is a Grade II listed building in the West Devon local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 February 1986. Disused school, house. 2 related planning applications.

Former Primary School Including Playground Retaining Wall Railings and Gatepiers to North and North East

WRENN ID
sleeping-zinc-lake
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
West Devon
Constituency
Central Devon MP: Sir Mel Stride (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
19 February 1986
Type
Disused school, house
Address
Former Primary School Including Playground Retaining Wall Railings and Gatepiers to North and North East, Exeter Street, North Tawton, EX20 2HB
OS grid reference
SS 664 016
Coordinates
50.79887, -3.89584
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The former primary school, including associated playground features, dates to around 1860 with later 19th-century extensions. It is constructed of squared random rubble walls with sandstone dressings, and is roofed with steep-pitched Welsh slate gabled roofs with sandstone gable copings. The building has axial stone chimney stacks over the ridge of the schoolmaster’s house.

The plan consists of two school room halls with a central, double-depth schoolmaster’s house. The original school room forms a cross-wing, with a later 19th-century extension set back to the left. A further school room, likely also from the 19th century, is situated to the right, with a rear wing extending from it. The building is in a Victorian Gothic style.

The schoolmaster’s house is two storeys high, while the schoolrooms are single-storey. The long, asymmetrical range features a centrally advanced, gabled section for the master’s house, which includes a two-storey stone mullioned canted bay window and a blocked trefoil ventilator above. To the left of this are two pointed arch doorways, with the right-hand doorway featuring a chamfered arch with pyramid stopped jambs, a plank door with ornate strap hinges, and a hipped half dormer above. The school room to the left is in a projecting gabled cross-wing featuring a large stone mullion 5-light window with a double transom and a straight head. A quatrefoil ventilator sits in the gable above. Another school room, a later 19th-century extension, adjoins at a right angle, set back to the left. At the opposite right end, the school room is also set back, presenting two triple lancets with pointed heads, each under a small gable. A lean-to porch with a pointed arch doorway, ornate strap hinges, is located at the right end. A lateral chimney stack and a gabled wing extend from the rear of this wing. The schoolmaster's house is gabled at the rear.

The interior was not inspected, but the school rooms are said to have arched brace roof trusses supported on moulded stone corbels.

The playground retaining wall is constructed of stone rubble, topped with stone coping and iron railings featuring fleur-de-lys finials to the stanchions. A pair of gate piers with pyramidal caps support an iron overthrow with decorative scrolls and a lamp-holder. A small garden area, railed off from the playground with similar wrought iron railings, is located in front of the schoolmaster’s house.

Local climate

Former Primary School Including Playground Retaining Wall Railings and Gatepiers to North and North East sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 75% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 73% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 28 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 68% of listed buildings. Of these, 12 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
  • Sale history — 15 transactions since 1996
  • Related listed building consents — 2 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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