Old School And Railings

This is a National School built in 1869. It is constructed of rubble with a Welsh slate roof. The building is two storeys high and features a four-stage tower porch and a 3:1:3 bay arrangement. Hammer-faced quoins are a prominent feature. The ground floor has 20th-century casement windows, while the first floor has pointed-arched windows. These include single lancets flanking central three-light windows with tracery, with quoined gables featuring blank loop-holes above. The building has kneelers, ashlar copings, and end stacks. The tower features single lancet windows on the first and second stages, a blank loop-hole on the fourth stage, and a plaque commemorating the building as a memorial to Reverend J A Birch, the late Rector of Middleham. An entrance, with a board door in an ashlar surround having cornice capitals and a four-centred arch head, is located on the right return of the tower. In front of the school, to the right of the tower, are cast-iron railings with spear finials. Urn finials are on the standards, and the railings sit atop an ashlar plinth. Ashlar gate-piers mark the boundaries of the railings.