Old School house

Located on the eastern side of Stackpole village’s main street, opposite the Armstrong Arms and near the modern primary school, this is an old schoolhouse and schoolroom, established as a school by the Dowager Lady Cawdor for the children of the Stackpole tenantry. In 1843, a two-unit cottage was converted into a teacher’s house, with a schoolroom added to the north end. By 1847, the school had 100 children aged between 5 and 13 enrolled. A modern school has since been built to the south. The house is now privately tenanted, whilst the schoolroom remains in use as an English language teaching classroom for the adjacent school.

The house is a two-storey building with three windows facing west towards the village street. It is constructed of local stone, with a roughcast finish. The roof is slate, featuring a verge overhang and a tile ridge, with end chimneys. The outer windows are pairs of nine-pane casements set within chamfered frames and a chamfered mullion. The central window above the door is a single eight-pane casement in a chamfered frame. Slate sills are present. The front door is in two leaves, each of three panels, and is sheltered by a rustic porch supported by timber posts. Internally, the original staircase was located at the rear, accessible from the left-hand room; it has since been relocated to rise directly from a lobby at the front door. An old fireplace and ovens in the left-hand room are now concealed. The right-hand room is one step down from the entrance. The ground-floor windows have built-in seats beneath sill level, fitted with internal shutters. A rear extension has been added, with the left-hand room serving as a kitchen. A notched tie-beam from a former roof structure is visible upstairs in a central cross-wall.

The schoolroom is now partitioned but was originally a single room measuring 4.2 metres by 7.2 metres, with a ceiling height of approximately 4 metres at its highest point. A remnant of a ventilator remains at the centre of the roof. The walls are of rendered rubble masonry with brick window jambs. It features large windows at the front and rear, with small panes, mullions, and transoms. There is a suggestion that a gallery once existed. The building is listed as a good example of an estate school and contributes to group value alongside other surviving buildings associated with Stackpole Court.