The Old School

The Old School is a national school and master's house located in Coates Village, dated 1849, with some late 20th-century alterations. The building is constructed from coursed limestone rubble with freestone dressings and features a plain tile roof with stone coped gable ends. It has gable end and axial stacks with paired ashlar shafts. The layout consists of the schoolmaster's house on the right (south) and the schoolroom on the left, with an additional schoolroom in a wing behind, creating an L-shaped plan.

Architecturally, it is designed in the Tudor Gothic style and is one storey with an attic for the master's house and a single storey for the schoolroom, presented in a continuous 1:1:2 bay range. The central gable protrudes forward and contains two moulded 4-centred arch doorways with hoodmoulds and ledged doors, along with a blind window above. Below this window is a clock mounted on an ornate wrought-iron bracket made by Stradlings of Cirencester, and a tablet inscribed with 'National School AD 1849'. To the right of the gable are two 2-light stone mullion windows with hoodmoulds on the ground floor, and single light windows above in two small gables. To the left of the central gable is a large 3-light stone mullion window with a hoodmould for the schoolroom. The left-hand (northeast) return features a similar 3-light window in the rear schoolroom wing. There are stone mullion windows at the rear, and at the time of the survey in May 1990, a single storey extension was being constructed. The interior was not inspected.