Schoolhouse, Main Street, Athelstaneford

The property comprises a schoolhouse and school building situated on Main Street, Athelstaneford. The schoolhouse dates to around 1780, with the school building also originating in 1780, although it was remodelled in the mid-19th century and subsequently extended in 1910-11.

The schoolhouse is a two-storey, three-bay structure built of sneck harled random rubble with renewed concrete raised margins. A late 19th-century wooden gabled porch provides the main entrance, featuring windows on either side and a doorway on the right return. Ground-floor windows have been enlarged to create bipartite openings. Three windows are present at the first floor. A single-storey, one-bay addition with a bipartite window projects to the east under a piend roof. A round stair turret with a polygonal roof is located to the left of centre at the rear. A harled, flat-roofed extension is present to the right, considered unfortunate. Sash and case windows are fitted, exhibiting a four-pane glazing pattern. The roof is grey slated, with ashlar coped skews and stacks.

The school building has a rubble base course indicating a 19th-century remodelling of a potentially earlier structure. The original central block formed an L-shape, with an additional wing added around 1910 on the right and further additions to the rear. The central block features six irregular bays, with a projecting gabled porch providing the entrance on the left return. The porch is topped with a finial. Four windows are positioned to the left of the porch, with two to the right. Four stepped windows are set into the gable at the west, featuring dressings of darker stone. The south return of the wing has four tall square-headed windows in gabled dormerheads. Two central windows are grouped under a single gable. Two gable ends are visible at the rear; the earlier section on the right has two windows, a single square-headed window between them, and a now-blocked slit opening above. The later wing has four stepped square-headed windows. Sash and case windows with eight or twelve panes are fitted, and the roof is grey slated, featuring angled skews and a curvilinear apex to the north gable of the later wing. An ashlar coped wallhead, ridge stacks, and a bellcote above the entrance are also present.

The school’s origins are linked to Sir David Kinloch’s improvements to the village in the late 18th century, sharing a similar timeframe with the church and manse. All three buildings appear on Donaldson's Gilmerton Estate Survey of 1784.