Greenfylde School

Greenfylde School, dated 1878, is a robust and richly detailed example of a Gothic Revival school built to replace the original at Court Barton, which subsequently became Ilminster Girls’ Grammar School. It is constructed of rough Ham Hill stone ashlar with rusticated blue lias stone bands, and has a crested slate roof. The building has a shallow U-shape plan with a long rear range facing Wharf Lane.

The main facade is single-storeyed and features two stepped-forward gables. The left gable has paired two-light windows with mullions and transoms, pointed trefoil heads to each light, plain quatrefoil lights to the tops, and hoodmoulds with foliate stops. The apex of the gable features a pierced cross. The right gable has one three-light window with pointed trefoil heads below a similar hoodmould and a slit window in the apex. A centrally set-back range has a planked door with elaborate strap hinges and flanking pairs of two-light windows similar to the others, but without hoodmoulds. A forward stack, rebuilt in the 20th century, is positioned to the right of centre, and features a decorative recessed panel with the date A.D. 1878 under a hoodmould. A plinth and a string course, at sill level and with head-stops flanking the door, run along the facade. Rough bands of blue lias are visible on the left wing and the centre of the building.

A belfry, diagonally positioned near the south-west angle of the ridge, has a slate-hung base, turned corner pillars with louvres, a steep slate pyramidal roof, and a wrought-iron finial. The finial features four drooping leaves at the base, a central ball with a crown, and a smaller ball at the top.

The rear elevation mirrors the front, with a left-of-centre gable featuring a similar elaborate wrought-iron finial. A long rear wing to the west has two-light cross-windows and gabled porches to the side, a Decorated-style gable end window, and three ornamental ridge vents. The interior was not inspected.