Carricknaveagh Primary School, 42 Carricknaveagh Road, Temple, Carryduff, County Down, BT27 6UB

Carricknaveagh Primary School is a single-storey rural school built circa 1940, located on the east side of Carricknaveagh Road near Temple, Lisburn, County Down. The building now stands vacant and boarded up.

The school is constructed of stretcher-bonded red brick. The main roof is hipped and laid with clay tiles and ridge tiles (recorded as Rosemary tiles), while three sides have flat roofs excluding the rear. Red brick chimneysstacks are positioned below the ridgeline and to the right hip. Cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

The building comprises a rectangular main block clasped on three sides by a slightly lower frontal section. The principal elevation faces northwest and is nine openings wide. At the centre is a slightly taller projecting entrance bay containing a central porch flanked by a window on either side. The entrance comprises steel double-leaf doors set within projecting cast concrete reveals and surmounted by a curved canopy. The porch floor is laid with terrazzo. Windows throughout are steel-framed with projecting masonry sills.

The northeast elevation contains a variety of window openings and features a wrought-iron gated entrance to the left. The southeast (rear) elevation is eight openings wide with a timber entrance door at the far left. The southwest elevation has six small window openings with a larger window to the far left and an entrance to the right of centre.

The building was erected for the Down County Educational Committee and was described as a new primary school before 1949, though construction records indicate circa 1940. The original construction cost was £9,898. The school originally contained five main rooms: two classrooms, a dining room, kitchen, and lavatories. Heating was provided by a boiler situated in one of the classrooms. In its early years, the school accepted boarding pupils with accommodation available for up to 60 pupils across the two classrooms. In 1949–50, the school roll numbered 55 children.

The building retains its original external aspect, having never been modified or extended. Original features surviving include the terrazzo flooring to the entrance porch and the original gate screen, though many windows and doors have suffered damage and are now boarded up. The design displays strong symmetry and modernist influences typical of inter-war school building, with architectural character provided by the curved entrance porch and hipped roof with Rosemary tiles.

The site occupies approximately one acre in an attractive rural setting with neighbouring farmland. Access is via a narrow country road. The property is enclosed on three sides by hedgerow and trees and bounded to the road by a red brick wall with saddleback coping stones. A tarmacadamed surround surrounds the building with a playground to the rear. The entrance to the southwest features a curved approach with gate piers and wrought-iron gates. Lawned areas surround the building on all sides.

The school is of social importance to the local community. It is currently for sale, and planning permission has been granted for conversion of the former schoolhouse into two private dwellings, with subsequent permission granted for demolition and construction of a new dwelling on the site.