Gilpins Cottage

Gilpins Cottage is a late 18th century building, originally constructed as a school for 20 boys and 20 girls by Rev. W. Gilpin, who served as Vicar of Boldre from 1777 to 1804. The building was altered in the 19th century when it was converted into a cottage and further altered in 1944. It is a 1½ storey, T-shaped brick building with a plain tile roof. The front facade combines a taller, ridged, and wider wing with a lower wing to the right. A large, panelled door with small top panels is centrally positioned between the bays. Each side of the door has a two-light casement window above it, beneath a dentilled cornice and a gabled dormer with bargeboards. Pilasters accentuate the left-hand end and corners of the right-hand wing. Chimneys are situated at the left-hand end and on the ridge over the junction of the wings. The right-hand wing is similar in appearance, but features a central gabled porch and a hip roof rising in the centre. The windows of this wing were replaced with steel casements after bomb damage in 1944. The school was superseded in the 19th century by a National School located across the road, which now incorporates a plaque that was previously attached to the original school building.