National School, Church Green, Dundonald, Co Down, BT16 2LP

National School, Church Green, Dundonald

A modest, well-executed two-storey school building dating from 1844, positioned to the west of Dundonald Presbyterian Church on the north side of Church Green. Built on land given free by the Cleland family of Stormont, it is a good example of a minor public building that remains in active use. The school's age and historic association with both the Cleland family and the Presbyterian congregation add considerable interest.

The building is constructed of squared, coursed rubble Scrabo stone with a dressed chamfered stone string course at first-floor sill level and rustic brick dressings to the openings. Windows to the ground floor are twelve-light with an opening section at the top left; those to the first floor are sixteen-light with ogee heads. The main entrance elevation faces east.

At the south end is the entrance bay, which is expressed as a separate section containing the vestibule and stairs and used to highlight the entrance. It is flanked by full-height pilasters reducing slightly on the first floor, which rise to stub columns above eaves level. These are topped by pyramidal caps with chamfered rims and ball finials, sitting above a moulded cornice. The doorway is set in a dressed stone surround with an ogee arch and fanlight with tracery above, surmounted by a light fitting. A single window sits directly above. Above this window runs a chamfered cornice with battlements between the columns. To the right, the façade of the main schoolrooms is plain, with three windows evenly spaced to both ground and first floors. The roof overhangs here with a cast iron gutter.

The south gable of the vestibule bay has one window at first-floor level with a datestone reading 1844 above it. Pilasters flank either side of this elevation. The cornice runs around from the front elevation and follows the roof pitch up to a round engaged finial on a moulded bracket stone, which rises to a conical cap with ball finial. A flat coping completes the gable.

The rear elevation is plain, with the entrance features reserved for the main façade and the gable facing the public space of the square. Two windows appear at either end of the ground floor, with arched windows above to the first floor. The north elevation's ground floor is largely obscured by a flat-roofed link block. The gable above has been rendered in smooth cement and is plain, with a stone chimney rising from the apex. Ground level rises toward the rear. Rainwater goods are cast iron painted; doors are original, timber and painted sheeted; the roof is natural slate.

The school was built in response to the opening of a large and handsome Church of Ireland parish school, which offered no particular religious instruction. The Presbyterian congregation sought an alternative. Shortly after completion, the Presbyterian minister, Reverend Martin, applied to the National Board for support. The Church of Ireland curate, Reverend Arthur Farrell, objected and an inspector was sent. A respectable yeoman of the village reportedly told the inspector that no one could afford the fees charged by the parish school and that parents were regularly persecuted in the courts of law for non-payment. The inspector was convinced, and the school was admitted to the National system in 1845.

By the mid-1890s the schoolhouse could not accommodate the volume of pupils. A new school with schoolmaster's house was built on the south side of Church Green in 1901. This was in turn replaced by a larger building—the core of the now much-enlarged Dundonald Primary School—situated further south in 1923. The building is now used by the Presbyterian Church as a minor hall.

The architect is uncertain, though it may have been designed by Messrs. Black of Belfast, who designed the neighbouring Presbyterian Church.