School, Main Street, Athelstaneford

This property comprises a schoolhouse and school, situated on Main Street, Athelstaneford. The schoolhouse dates to around 1780, with the school also originating in 1780 but undergoing remodelling in the mid-19th century and further additions in 1910-11.

The schoolhouse is a two-storey, three-bay structure built of sneck harled random rubble with renewed concrete raised margins. It features a late 19th-century wooden gabled porch with windows on each side, and the original doorway is located on the right return. Ground-floor windows have been enlarged to bipartite designs, while three windows are present on the first floor. A single-storey, piend-roofed, one-bay addition extends to the east with a bipartite window. A round stair turret with a polygonal roof is situated to the left of centre at the rear. An unfortunate, harled, flat-roofed extension is present to the right. The windows are sash and case with a four-pane glazing pattern. The roof is grey slated, with ashlar coped skews and stacks.

The school building is constructed with a rubble base course suggesting a 19th-century remodelling of an earlier structure. The central block was initially L-shaped, with an advanced wing added around 1910, and further additions to the rear. The central block has six irregular bays; an entrance is in a projecting gabled porch with a finial on the left return, featuring four windows to the left and two to the right. Four stepped windows are present on the west gable, featuring darker stone dressings. The south return of the wing boasts four tall, square-headed windows set within gabled dormerheads. The rear has two gable ends; the earlier section to the right has two windows, a single square-headed window in between, and a blocked slit opening above. The later wing has four stepped square-headed windows. The windows are sash and case with either eight or twelve panes. The roof is grey slated with angled skews and a curvilinear apex to the north gable of the later wing. Other features include an ashlar coped wallhead, ridge stacks, and a bellcote above the entrance.

The school’s origins are linked to Sir David Kinloch's improvements to the village in the late 18th century, coinciding with the construction of the church and manse. These structures are documented in Donaldson’s Gilmerton Estate Survey of 1784.