St. Clare’s Convent Primary School, High Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1HB

St. Clare's Convent Primary School

St. Clare's Convent Primary School is part of an extensive religious complex in Newry that also includes a convent and chapel, burial vault, oratory, laundry, and wells. The school itself comprises five interconnected sections of varying heights and configurations, arranged around a central site adjacent to High Street.

The main block is aligned east-west with the road and stands three storeys high, with the school occupying the first two floors and the convent the top floor. It has a half-hipped natural slate roof and cement-rendered walls with a painted base course. The north-facing principal elevation features seven window openings at ground floor level: three larger 6/6 sliding sashes (left, middle and right) alternating with two narrower 4/4 sashes between them. The first floor has eight openings: two 4/4 sliding sashes (left and right) and single 6/6 windows between, all set in two-centred arched heads with infilled spandrels and stooled lintels. The second floor contains two 6/6 sashes at left and right with a single 4/4 sash at centre. All openings are set in chamfered reveals. The east gable features a skylight in its half-hipped roof. The rear elevation has a rendered chimney rising from the eaves to the right, with two skylights in the roof pitch. The main block is abutted on the left by a slightly lower three-storey return with ground and first floor 6/6 sliding sash windows that are taller at first floor level and shorter at second floor; all windows have stooled heads and painted granite cills. To the right of this section is a slightly lower hipped block containing a ground floor door with tongue-and-groove sheeted transom and 6/6 landing lights between floors. The west gable has two 6/6 sash windows at ground and first floor levels with stooled heads, and at second floor a two-centred arched opening with multi-paned margined sliding sash alongside a flat-headed 6/6 sash. A modern metal fire escape is affixed to the left-hand side.

The rear return is a three-storey block with pitched natural slate roof, chimney on the south gable, half-round gutters, and walls finished to match the main block. The south-facing gable has a 6/6 window at ground floor, another at first floor, and two narrower 6/6 windows at second floor, all with granite cills. The right cheek has 6/6 sash windows aligned vertically on each floor, as does the left cheek, which additionally has a tongue-and-groove door to the left of the ground floor window.

The northwest annex is three storeys high, with the top floor occupied by the convent and the lower floors by the school. It has a natural slate roof, hipped with a gablet to the north and verged and gabled to the south, with a chimney rising from the south gable. The north gable contains two 6/6 sash windows at ground and first floors and a smaller 6/6 sash at second floor, all except the top floor windows set in two-centred arched openings with stooled infills and chamfered jambs; small vents appear between windows at ground-to-first-floor level. The east elevation is six windows wide, with the middle pair advancing slightly. At ground floor are six windows in openings matching the gable treatment, with the middle two narrower, and a double-leaf three-panel painted door with raised jamb to the left. The first floor has six sash windows aligned with ground floor openings in identical surrounds. The second floor has five diminished 6/6 sashes with stooled heads (one only to the projecting section). The south gable is abutted by a modern metal fire escape staircase with a door at the top and partially by the southwest annex. This elevation has miscellaneous sliding sash windows of irregular spacing and size. The west elevation has three 6/6 sliding sashes and two entranceways at ground floor. The first floor contains a 6/6 sash above the left and right ground floor windows, a pair of narrow 4/4 sashes at centre, and a small 2/2 sash at right. The second floor has six 6/6 sashes, all with stooled heads (except the ground floor right) and granite cills.

The southwest annex is three storeys high with a semi-basement opening to the west and a flat concrete roof with parapet to south, east, and west (the last sheeted with profiled metal). The east elevation is six openings wide with four windows and two doors at ground floor. Both upper floors have a pair of 2/2 sashes at left and 6/6 sashes in the remaining four openings. The south gable has a door and four windows to the semi-basement (three with paired 1/1 sashes, the fourth with a single 1/1 sash). At ground floor are five openings (four with paired 1/1 sashes, the fifth with a single 1/1 sash). The first and second floors each have a tall narrow 2/2 sash. The west elevation has four semi-basement windows (three paired 1/1 sashes) and a door, eight ground floor windows (all but one are 3/3 sashes), and nine windows to first and second floors (4/4 sashes). The north gable is blank except for a large opening at ground floor, with a chimney rising from eaves level at left.

The section incorporated in the convent block is four storeys high, with the top two floors serving the convent and the lower two the school. It has a pitched natural slate roof and painted rendered walls. The ground floor is abutted by an external flat-roofed walkway with a metal handrail along the top, providing access to the roof from the first floor of an adjoining block to the south. Directly above the roofline are five 2/2 top-opening casements. The first floor contains six 6/3 sashes and the second floor has seven 2/2 sashes. The fourth floor is a 1960s addition lit by eight modern casements. The remaining elevations are abutted by adjoining buildings.