The Old School And Schoolhouse

The Old School and Schoolhouse

This is a group of three houses, originally constructed as a school. The building is dated 1702 and underwent alterations later in the 18th century and in the 20th century, when the school was probably converted into residential accommodation. It is constructed of rubble walls with granite dressings and is roofed in slate, hipped at the front and gabled at the rear. There are three rubble chimneys: one lateral stack projecting from the left-hand side, one axial, and one at the rear gable end.

The building has a deep rectangular plan. Originally, it likely comprised a single long school room on the ground floor, heated by the lateral stack on the left-hand side, with a room above reached by a newel staircase in a rear projection on the right side. During the late 18th century, the ground floor was divided into two rooms to create a schoolhouse at the rear of the school. In the 20th century, the school was further subdivided into two cottages, the larger occupying the front section.

The building is two storeys and stands against the churchyard on its right side. The main front has a symmetrical three-window hipped facade with a central single-storey porch. On the first floor, the outer two windows are tall two-light granite mullions with transoms and roundheaded lights with recessed spandrels—a notably archaic style for the stated date. The central window is a tall 20th-century casement with a segmental arched head. The ground-floor windows to left and right match those above but are smaller and lack transoms. The central gabled porch contains a four-centred stone arched doorway, moulded with recessed spandrels, also remarkably archaic for 1702. Above the porch, a slate plaque is inscribed: "Endowed by Lady Modiford in 1702 repaired and re-endowned by Sir Masseh Lopes 1830." A small granite cross crowns the porch gable. Diagonal buttresses occur at either front corner.

The left-hand side has 19th-century six-pane sashes to the right, either side of the lateral stack. To the left is the school house, with two early-to-mid 20th-century casements with diamond-leaded panes; the ground-floor left-hand window sits in a chamfered stone frame and the right-hand window re-uses a mullion lintel. Between them is a four-centred stone arched doorway. Between the ground and first floors runs a row of curved stone corbels, possibly the only surviving evidence of a first-floor gallery. At the right side of the school house, the first floor has a single chamfered roundheaded light with recessed spandrels. Below and to the right is a small four-centred arched granite doorway. To its right stands a rectangular stair projection with a square-headed granite window.

Internally, the main school room contains a four-centred granite arched doorway with roll moulding inside the porch. The main room has a granite-framed fireplace with a basket arch and double roll moulding. At the top of each side wall is a corbel table of dressed granite supporting a plain wooden beam of unclear purpose. At the back of the original school is a granite four-centred arched doorway which opened into the school house.

The original features—both internal and external—display a surprisingly archaic style for a 1702 endowment. It is possible either that the building itself is earlier or that these features were reused from earlier buildings. However, it is notable that public buildings in Devon dating from the 17th century often employ an archaic style, as exemplified by the Grammar School at Plympton.