Movanagher School, 75-77 Agivey Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 5UX

Movanagher School is a detached, symmetrical, single-storey former school building, constructed around 1843–1845 by the Worshipful Company of Mercers to designs by William Barnes, architect to the Mercers' Company and a pupil of George Smith. It sits on an elevated site on the eastern side of the Agivey Road, approximately two miles north of Kilrea, with the River Bann to the west. In recent decades the interior has been remodelled for private residential use, though the building remains a prominent and architecturally significant feature in the historic rural landscape. It is considered one of the most distinguished school buildings of its type in County Londonderry, and is of considerable social importance to the local community.

The building follows an H-shaped plan. A central rectangular axis is flanked at each end by large gable-fronted bays that advance both to the front and rear, with a twin gable-fronted porch at the centre of the principal elevation. A single-storey, pitched-roof abutment occupies the south-east corner, with a lean-to shed and a further outbuilding to the east; all three ancillary structures are of little architectural interest. Roofs are steeply pitched and covered in slate, with black and grey angled ridge tiles and finials to the gable ends. Half-round cast iron rainwater goods are used in most areas, with some uPVC replacements. The overhanging eaves feature decorative timber bargeboards and fascia to the main elevation, plain elsewhere. There are two replacement brick chimneys with rendered bases and round clay pots.

The walling is tooled, uncoursed squared greystone with grey stone quoins, and a slightly projecting base course. The rear elevation is painted pebbledash. The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically composed. Windows on this elevation are 6/6 timber sashes set within brick camber-headed arches with full brick surrounds and projecting stone sills. The central twin gable-fronted porch contains two narrow timber casements, each with three panes arranged vertically. The right cheek of the porch has a window insertion with the area below blocked up and painted, indicating a former doorway. The left cheek has a replacement half-glazed timber panelled entrance door with a small transom above. The porch is flanked on each side by two sash windows. The advancing gable-fronted end bays each contain a central ground-floor window and a diminished attic window.

The north elevation has a single casement window to the right of centre; the lower area is painted, and full-height quoins indicate this was formerly a doorway. The east elevation contains six timber casement windows to the main axis, all with plain surrounds and flat-arched heads; there is a similar central window to the right gable-fronted bay, and a window to the right of centre on the far left bay. A single-storey abutment at the left corner is of no interest. The south elevation has two timber casement windows with painted and blocked-up areas below, originally doorways.

The building is bounded to the north, east and south by mature trees and hedgerows. To the west, fronting the Agivey Road, there is a boundary wall of similar construction to the main building, with rounded concrete copings. Three pairs of square piers with pyramidal sandstone caps support iron gates, with a pedestrian gate at the centre. Stone flags surround the immediate perimeter of the building, with gravel to the outer perimeter and tarmac to the rear.

Barnes' design for the school appears to have been derived from plans drawn up by the surveyor James Turnbull, who had previously designed schools for the Fishmongers' and Grocers' Companies. Movanagher was the first school built by the Mercers' Company following their resumption of direct management of the estate in 1831, after a long period during which it had been let to largely absentee associates since the mid-17th century. The building was completed in 1843 at an approximate cost of £617. The stone used in its construction was most likely sourced from a quarry in Movanagher opened around 1780, which was at the time the only noted local source of good building stone. The school was established on an area of neutral, non-secular land, as recorded in a Grant Aid Application dated 1845–65.

The school is first shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1849–53, captioned "Mercers' School" with a small outbuilding to the rear. Griffith's Valuation of 1857–58 lists the school-houses and garden at a value of £7 5s, the property of the Mercers' Company. At that time the building was divided equally into two schools, one for males and one for females, each containing a front porch, a school-house, and a teacher's dwelling located to either side of the central classrooms. A playground had been added prior to 1864. By 1886 the teachers' accommodation was listed separately at £1 10s each, and by this time the school had become a National School. Teachers' rooms continued to be occupied until the mid-20th century. By 1935 the building was listed as a Public Elementary School, and the Second General Revaluation records that in 1957 it became a Primary School, with a canteen incorporated in 1966.

A Grant Aid Application record held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, dating from around 1845–65, notes the building was in a good state of repair in 1852. That report records timber-boarded floors, a fireplace in each room, sash windows, plastered ceilings and walls, two blackboards, and "excellent" furniture. The teachers at that time were William Shaw and Letitia Brown, and the number of pupils was recorded as 93. A later report of around 1922–26, also held at PRONI, found the condition had deteriorated: a chimney required repair and areas of plaster were missing from the ceiling in one classroom. The windows were replaced on a number of occasions during the 20th century, and the roof slates, roof structure, and chimneys have more recently undergone extensive repair and replacement. The building fell into disuse during the 1970s and was converted to a private residence during the 1980s.

Barnes was a significant architect in the area, and among the notable buildings in Kilrea designed by him are St Patrick's Church and the First Presbyterian Church. James Stevens Curl, writing in 1986, described this Mercers' school as one of the most distinguished of all such buildings in County Londonderry.