Waitby And Smardale School

Waitby and Smardale School is a building dated 1867, now serving as a store. It was constructed to replace a school established in 1660 and has undergone minor alterations in the 20th century. The school features rubble stone walling with quoins and dressings around the openings, while the front elevation has lined out render. The slate roof is laid to diminishing courses and includes a brick chimney on the right gable and a bellcote on the left. The building has a T-plan layout, with a lower gabled porch at the front. Flanking the porch are two tall sash windows, originally designed with six over four panes, although the lower sashes are now covered. The porch itself has a small four-pane sash window in the gable and a plain doorway on the right side wall. The rear wall contains a central sash window with six over four panes. Inside, the space remains largely unaltered, featuring a single, undivided school room that retains fixed shelving and some benches against the end walls. An inscribed tablet in the porch gable states, "This school was rebuilt by public subscription A.D. 1867," positioned above a reset tablet from the earlier school, which reads, "This schoole built by Mr James Highmoore borne at Waitby cloth worker in London for the use of Waitby and Smardale Anno Domini 1660." This building, with its slight alterations, illustrates the scale of educational provision prior to the 1870 Elementary Education Act.