Library, Village Hall And Caretaker'S Flat

The Library, Village Hall, and Caretaker's Flat, originally built as a school in 1656, was a gift from Sir Thomas Chaloner. It was extended at the back in 1856 at the expense of Lady Dunsany, and a schoolmaster's lodging, now the caretaker's flat, was added to the left in 1841. The Village Hall was constructed in the rear right-hand corner in 1902 by Parker and Unwin for Edmund Verney. The building is made of brick with tiled roofs. The school features thin bricks in English bond, a plinth, a band course over the windows and former doorway, and moulded eaves. It has an old tile roof with 19th-century bargeboards on the right gable. The left chimney stack has three square shafts set diagonally. The front has two cross windows to the left with gauged brick heads and keyblocks, and a terracotta plaque inscribed "1656 Chaloner Public Library 1902" is located between the windows. To the right, there is a 19th-century gabled porch with a painted 17th-century plaque commemorating the founding of the school reset over the door. The right gable features a similar window with a two-light mullioned window above and a rendered square bellcote opening. The 1841 lodging has a gabled façade facing the road, with a square bay window on the ground floor and paired casements above. The Village Hall, designed in the Arts and Crafts style, includes battered brick buttresses and an elaborately hipped roof that sweeps down over the lobby and a three-bay open verandah at the front. It has three-light wooden mullion windows, two in the clerestory and three on the ground floor, featuring painted glass and benches with heart motifs below. The lobby to the right has similar two-light windows. Inside the hall, there is a large inglenook fireplace with tiles, painted panels, and benches with backs of carved panelling dated 1663. Similar panels are found at the front of the stage. The school has a fragment of 17th-century panelling, and a cheque for £50 from Florence Nightingale is set in a stone plaque in the rear room.