Old Church School

This is a former school, specifically the Beaconsfield National School, built in 1872 by Henry Woodyer. The school was constructed on land donated by Magdalen College, Oxford, and Mr John Hargreaves, and commissioned by Woodyer's brother-in-law, the incumbent of the parish church, with William Child acting as the builder. Extensions were added in 1877-8, also under Woodyer’s direction, and further proposals were drawn up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The school closed in 1957 and has since undergone alterations, including the addition of a porch and modifications to the interior following acquisition by the Masonic Order in 1983.

The building is constructed of red brick with decorative brickwork, featuring gables with applied timber framing and tile roofs. A timber belfry tops the structure, and it was originally comprised of three schoolrooms - for boys, girls, and infants – along with boys’ and girls’ classrooms and washrooms, later extended to the north, south and east.

The north elevation is gabled, with an additional schoolroom to the south and an eastern extension that now serves as a kitchen. Each gabled bay originally contained large windows with mullions and transoms. The window on the north side is positioned high under the gable, flanked by vertically boarded panels. Most windows feature clear glass, with the exception of a colored glass window at the rear of the former boys’ schoolroom. A corridor, originally external, runs along the entrance elevation at cill height. A two-bay hipped roof classroom, added in the late 19th century and now used as a bar, has mullion and transom windows under gables, a tall stack with a shaped cap, and a taller gabled bay housing the kitchens with a three-bay schoolroom at the rear. The porch, added after 1983, reuses brick from former outside lavatories. Cast iron downspouts dated 1872 are evident at the rear, with similar downspouts having formerly been present on the front elevation. The tall timber belfry has a pyramidal lead roof and a slender iron cross.

Inside, the hall, now known as the Ted Wood Room, is a three-bay schoolroom added in the later 19th century, replacing the boys’ classroom and washroom, and features a refurbished dado. The former boys’ schoolroom is now a meeting room with a trussed roof displaying exposed purlins and principal rafters. Green glazed tiled dado is said to survive behind panelling, and the room features panelled doors. The four-bay infants’ and girls’ schoolrooms feature similar roofs, with glazed tile dados now boarded over, and vertically boarded doors within arched doorframes, each with cast iron snakeshead strap hinges, a door handle and lock. A former outer door is now concealed behind the added porch. A staircase, with square newels and a moulded rail (balusters now boarded over), is found within the northern classrooms, along with a brick dado and doorways into the schoolroom. The bar area retains an angle chimneypiece.