Stornoway., Former Industrial Female School (Lady Matheson Seminary), 74 Keith Street is a Grade B listed building in the Na h-Eileanan Siar local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 1 February 1993. School. 5 related planning applications.
Stornoway., Former Industrial Female School (Lady Matheson Seminary), 74 Keith Street
- WRENN ID
- inner-kitchen-lark
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Na h-Eileanan Siar
- Constituency
- Na h-Eileanan an Iar MP: Torcuil Crichton (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 1 February 1993
- Type
- School
- Address
- Stornoway., Former Industrial Female School (Lady Matheson Seminary), 74 Keith Street, HS1 2JG
- OS grid reference
- NB 424 330
- Coordinates
- 58.21114, -6.38662
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The former Industrial Female School, known as Lady Matheson Seminary, is a single storey and attic building located at 74 Keith Street, designed by Charles Howitt and Charles Wilson in 1848. It stands on a prominent corner site and features breaking eaves with a nepus gable on the east elevation. The structure is built from squared coursed Lewisian Gneiss rubble, with some dressed margins.
On the Keith Street elevation, the building has five bays, highlighted by a large central breaking eaves gable that is flanked by two narrow piended roofed dormers. The ground floor has regular fenestration with lying pane glazing, some of which is partially boarded as of 2008. The centre gable features a timber mullioned tripartite window, while the flanking gables have plain rectangular windows. Above the tripartite window is a polished inscription panel that reads: "FEMALE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, ON THIS SITE IN 1848 LADY MATHESON THE WIFE OF THE OWNER OF LEWIS OPENED A SCHOOL TO PROVIDE YOUNG LADIES WITH THE OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN A RANGE OF DOMESTIC ACTIVITIES AND CRAFTS. IT LATER PROVIDED A MORE GENERAL EDUCATION FOR YOUNG LADIES UNTIL 1906."
The Scotland Street elevation also consists of roughly five bays, with a two-bay gable end to the east and a three-bay wing to the west. The doorway is located at the centre of the three-bay wing, flanked by windows with plain surrounds. The gable has a single window in the centre and two smaller off-centre windows above. There are small piended roofed breaking eaves dormers on the west side.
The windows predominantly feature lying pane glazing in timber sash and case frames, with some partially boarded as of 2008. The building includes gablehead and ridge stacks with thin slate detailing and some clay cans. There are cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative brackets, while plastic rainwater goods are used in other areas.
The interior, observed in 2010, contains former schoolrooms on the ground floor, which feature some timber dado panelling on the walls, large raised platforms at one end, and a gallery at the first floor, which was originally used as 'infant galleries'.
Local climate
Stornoway., Former Industrial Female School (Lady Matheson Seminary), 74 Keith Street sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,210 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 92% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 94% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 12 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 89% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 5 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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