Former school house, Meeting House Street, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1LD

Former School House, Portaferry

This single-storey school house was built in 1849 on the north-east side of Meeting House Street, just east of Portaferry town centre. It was originally rectangular in shape, designed to accommodate 34 pupils. Contemporary records from shortly after its construction describe it as "built of stone, brick and lime plastered, ceiled battoned and floored...lighted by 14 windows and well ventilated. It is not yet divided and is 60 ft long, 26 ft wide and 12 ft high at the side walls". As pupil numbers increased, the school was extended in 1890 with the addition of a rear classroom, a gift from Miss Margaret Warnock. The front façade was also renovated at this time, when a front porch and rear extension were added.

The building is finished in pebbledash render with decorative window bands, quoins and plinth. The front south-west elevation is symmetrical with a central projecting porch. Quoins are set on pilaster-like narrow projecting piers, with similar projecting piers between the second and third windows and on the corners of the front porch. The gable above the porch features a moulded cement name plate. The front elevation is lit by windows with modern transomed three-pane lights set in moulded cement surrounds with keystones. The original sandstone cills are now linked with a smooth cement course. The eaves course features bracket decoration. The roof is gabled and covered with Bangor blue slates. Yellow brick chimneys rise from both gables of the main building and from the centre of the main projecting bay.

The rear north-east elevation is plain sheeted timber, finished in rough cast render, with a projecting bay containing a large lean-to extension to the left (more recent, with corrugated iron roof) and a smaller porch extension to the right (circa 1890, with Bangor blue slated roof). The main bay gable is blank. The left extension has a plain sheeted timber door and a three-light window with horizontal mullions and side-hung casement lights. The right porch extension has plain sheeted double timber doors with fanlight. The rear elevation contains various windows including steel three-pane lights, single-light windows with top openers, and small single-pane windows, all with stone cills. Cast iron gutters and down spouts run throughout. The south-east face is blank while the north-west elevation has paired single modern timber transomed windows sharing a stone cill, with a plaque to the right. The gable of the main building on this elevation is blank but features quoins and a projecting boxed verge.

Within the school yard to the north-west stands a much renovated nineteenth-century Master's house, constructed of random rubble stone with brick piers and cement cope stone, now whitewashed. A low rubble wall with brick piers and cement cope stone encloses the concrete school yard.

The school merged with Ballyphilip Parochial National School in 1934. The building now belongs to Portaferry Presbyterian Church and serves as a church hall, used for meetings of church elders, Sunday school and other gatherings. The property lies within a conservation area.