Old School And Schoolhouse, Balnacra

The Old School and Schoolhouse in Balnacra, built in 1875 by mason John Campbell, likely following a design by Alexander Ross, is a single-storey and attic building with a rectangular plan. It consists of a three-bay schoolhouse featuring an entrance porch and two gabled dormers, alongside a three-bay schoolroom with an entrance in a lean-to wing attached to the gable. The structure is constructed of rubble with tooled long-and-short sandstone ashlar dressings and features deep, bracketed eaves and pointed-arch doorways. The schoolroom remains largely intact.

The building includes a projecting timber porch supported on stone corbels, with a two-leaf timber door and a stained glass fanlight above. There is a louvred roundel above a pair of windows on the east gable end. At the rear center, there is a single-storey former toilet block outshot. Additionally, a small detached rubble-built and slated outbuilding is located in the northeast corner of the former playground area.

The windows predominantly feature four-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames with thinly moulded glazing bars on the ground floor. The roof is covered with Ballachulish slate, and there are rendered brick ridge and end stacks with ornamental clay cans, along with cast iron rainwater goods.

Inside, the schoolroom is essentially unaltered, showcasing a ribbed, timber panelled ceiling, timber wall panelling up to window height, and original timber flooring. There is a timber surround for the kitchen range, and a later stair in the hall leads to a converted attic space with exposed timber beams.

The property is enclosed by drystone boundary walls that extend to the rear, separating the teachers' garden from the former playground.