The Olgiby Trust National School, Main Street, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 OET

This is a late Victorian school building, constructed in 1897, situated around the corner from Main Street in Limavady, with a view of Keady Mountain. It is a well-proportioned and decorated example of its type, of social importance to Limavady due to its long association with generations of school children, a connection maintained by its current use.

The single-storey building has a steeply sloping natural slate roof topped with a ventilator and a brick facade featuring polychrome brickwork. A central, projecting entrance porch faces northeast towards the new bus station. The porch itself has a steep pitch and a lower eaves line, with a decorated timber bargeboard. A sandstone plaque reads ‘Oligby Trust National School 1897, Drumachose Parish.’ Below a polychrome brick string course is an angled brick hood moulding that steps up over a central modern security door. A stepped pattern in the brickwork is visible beneath the bargeboard, reminiscent of the County Courthouse (HB02/12/007). Guide and Scout logos are painted on the brickwork to either side of the door. The main building has two horizontally emphasized windows on each side of the porch, each with a segmental head, four mullions, and a transom bar aligning with the polychrome string course; angled brick hood mouldings are above the windows. Identical windows are found on each gable, accompanied by decorative bargeboards supported on extended purlins and a stepped brickwork pattern below. A decorative red ridge tile features on the roof, and the central ventilator is nicely detailed. A small school yard lies in front of the building, enclosed by a low wall and simple railing. Behind the school, a steep slope leads up to Christ Church graveyard (see HB02/12/001).

The architectural style echoes that of buildings associated with the Midland Railway, such as Magilligan Halt (HB02/09/018) and Bellarena Station (HB02/09/041), and likely relates to Lanyon’s former station in Limavady. The building was constructed by James Wray, on a site given by Captain Ogilby of Pellipar, who was also the landlord of many local properties including those leading to the entrance gates of Christ Church, as recorded in the 1858 Griffiths Valuation. The school operated until the mid-1970s and has since been used as a Scout and Guide hall.