Largy County Primary School, 130 Drumrane Road, Ballykelly, Co Londonderry, BT49 9LQ

Largy County Primary School is a mid-Victorian school building of national and local interest, built in Tudor Gothic style. The school remains in use and represents an increasingly rare example of 19th-century educational architecture, combining good materials, characterful ornamentation, and imaginative design. It is of particular social importance as a functioning example of its type.

The building is sited approximately 200 metres north of the junction of Drumrane and Polly's Brae Roads, accessed via a hedge-lined straight avenue and surrounded by mature trees which enhance the setting. The structure forms a pleasing vista from Polly's Brae Road.

The school is a single-storey stone building with a 1½-storey teacher's residence at the eastern end, all under a natural slated roof extending across the whole. The building is seven bays wide with gables, the two classrooms occupying five bays. It is constructed of schist random rubble stonework with soft-coloured sandstone trim, presenting a charming composition.

The main facade originally featured two gabled entrances—one to the school and one to the residence. The residence gable entrance remains intact with its gable projection, while the school entrance has lost its gable but retains its diagonal shouldered buttresses on either side. The residence features square quoins with bold stepped barges.

The windows display careful Tudor Gothic detailing. School windows are positioned in line with a straight continuous sandstone string course forming the cill, with a higher continuous string course stepping up to form a hood moulding to each window. Each classroom window is divided into 12 panes. The main gables each have a pair of similar-sized windows subdivided into four panes, with a glazed trefoil above featuring sandstone trim.

The residence entrance is centrally placed in its gable with moulded sandstone trim, a three-pointed arch, square label moulding, and a straight string course aligning with the school windows. Above the doorway is a two-light casement square-headed window with six Georgian panes, each with a stepped hood moulding continuing to the quoins in line with the roof eaves. Above this is a small recess with plain surround for a plaque. The seventh bay window serving the residence has a lower cill line with stepped label moulding, sandstone trim, and a window divided into four panes of sliding sash type.

The roofs are slated with several courses displaying angle cuts in a typical Victorian pattern. Iron guttering is supported on sandstone corbels with downpipes.

To the rear, the gabled projections are repeated. A roughcast rendered 1939 extension interrupts this elevation, though the rear porches to the classrooms are earlier. Behind the school are various later additions including an inappropriate school meals kitchen, two mobile classrooms, and a tall chimney serving the school boiler. A block of outside toilets stands to the rear. An extension to the residence and boiler room was added, with a tall chimney to the school porch.

Erection of the school began in 1858 and it opened in 1859, probably instituted by the Alexander family who donated the site and contributed building costs. The architect may have been George Given. The school later became a Public Elementary School under the Londonderry and Limavady Regional Education Committee.

In 1939, the school underwent significant improvements. Central heating was provided, the pupils' entrance to the front was changed to a window, and fireplaces were blocked off. The residence was improved with a rear extension around a former projection, the doorway from residence to school was blocked off, and additional storage spaces were added. The architect for these works was C.S. Agnew of the Ministry of Works. A linen drawing of 1939 signed by C.S. Agnew documents these alterations. Entrance pillars and gates were erected at the main road in 1939, incorporating a metal commemorative plaque and post-box. The post-box bears V & R on either side of an embossed crown, indicating the Victoria Regina period.

Under the Western Education and Library Board, following the 1947 Education Act, the school was maintained without changes to its architectural character. School meals buildings were erected and two mobile temporary classrooms added in the early 1980s. Alterations to the main facade have been handled sensitively, and the setting has been enhanced over the years as trees and hedges matured.

The listing extends to the school building, the piers and gates of 1939, the plaque, and the post-box.