Barham Memorial School

Barham Memorial School

A school built in free style architecture, combining mullioned windows, round arches and gothic detail that recalls the work of Philip Webb. The building is constructed of rock-faced squared Preseli stone with grey-brown sandstone ashlar dressings and steep slate roofs.

The front elevation faces north and is two storeys high with three bays arranged symmetrically. Two gables with coped shoulders flank a central bellcote, with one further gable to one-and-a-half storeys above the rear ranges which step down the slope. Each flanking gable contains a pair of arched vents with hoodmoulds set in the ashlar apex, a large three-light first floor window with mullion-and-transom frame, broad blind arched head, blank shield and hoodmould, and two ground floor windows that are narrower but taller, with two lights, blank arched heads and hoodmoulds. The windows have timber rather than stone transoms. The building is articulated with ashlar plinths at sill level, impost bands continued as hoodmoulds, a first floor sill course, and a course beneath the gable apex and at the impost level of the vents.

The narrow centre section features a parapet with an ornate bellcote breaking through on corbels. The bellcote has a single bell opening with hoodmould to the front, narrow openings on each side under cross-gables, and a higher small gable to the front containing a tiny two-light window and roundel. First floor windows, three in number and narrow, each have an ashlar transom; the central one sits between the corbels of the bellcote. A sill course runs across. The ground floor has a marble plaque at the centre, positioned above a pair of massively detailed round arches with hoodmoulds and a deep central pier fitted with back-to-back columns, moulded bases and heavy capitals. A recessed porch lies within, containing a panelled door flanked by a narrow window with top light.

The right end wall displays a large three-light window with blank arched head, similar to those on the ground floor front. The plinth, impost band and first floor sill band are continued around the building. The roof is hipped at the south-west angle and carries a truncated chimney at the corner.

The rear elevation features fishscale-slates hung in the centre with a narrow band of windows at first floor. The left (east) end wall roof is also hipped to the rear south-east, with a slight projection making the whole front range slightly L-plan in shape; the steep roof hip is carried down as an outshut onto the classroom ranges behind. A first floor cross window appears in the west return. The east side has a side-wall chimney corbelled out, a two-light window at first floor to the left, and a moulded sill course interrupted by the chimney. The ground floor right has a two-light window with blank arched tympanum and hood as on the front wall, with a door and window to the left. The outshut has an end wall three-light mullion-and-transom window set lower, reflecting the change in levels.

Due to the sloping site, the rear ranges are positioned at a lower level equivalent to a basement. An L-plan range of classrooms extends south from the east end of the front range, with another returning west; the narrow court between them is infilled with cloakrooms. This single-storey infill features two gables to the west, originally both glazed in small panes—the right one now boarded over—above a pent slate roof sheltering two doors with two small square lights between. To the right, the gable-end of the east-west range displays a timber three-light mullion-and-transom window with pointed slate-hung tympanum pierced by a square light, hoodmould, ashlar apex with twin vents. One three-light hipped dormer sits on the north roof slope. A ridge ashlar chimney stack with gablets and shaped cap crowns the roof. The north-south classroom range has a similar gable to the south but with a depressed arch over a large three-light window with two transoms. Two three-light windows appear to the east side. Two hipped two-light dormers on the west side are visible over the roofs of the west entrance lobbies.

Attached by a low wall is a small square toilet block with half-hipped roof and gablets. A Caernarfon-arched door opens to the north end with two small square windows to the right; the west side has two similar windows to the left and one to the right of a similar door.

The interior is not accessible in detail. From the entry, a staircase leads down to the lower levels. The south-east classroom is said to contain a plaque over a stone chimneypiece recording Mrs Barham's wish that the Bible be constantly taught and read in the school.