The Old School House

The Old School House is a late 16th-century house with an addition dating from circa 1600, constructed of painted rubble stone with a slate roof and brick end and off-centre stacks. The east front is irregular and has a slight batter to the walls. The windows are 19th-century hornless sash windows with stone sills. The first floor features, from left to right, two 12-pane sashes, a small square window, and two similar 12-pane sashes. The ground floor includes a 12-pane sash, 20th-century double-glazed doors, a large 19th-century tripartite sash window, a 6-panel entrance door with a monopitch slate canopy, and another 12-pane sash. At the rear of the house, the roofline extends downwards to form small, continuous outshuts at each end, with a small 20th-century lean-to extension between them. A set of late 17th- to early 18th-century mullion and transom windows are located in the upper part of the rear wall, including one two-light window on the far left and two further two-light windows towards the centre.

The building has a three-unit linear plan. Entry is from the right, into the circa 1600 addition. The ground-floor room has chamfered ceiling beams with hollow and fillet (Wern-hir) stops, chamfered joists with diagonal stops, and a chamfered fireplace opening with a flat monolithic lintel and jambs. During the early 19th century, the oak baulk sills of the former mullion windows were cut through to accommodate sash windows, with the western window now blocked. A 6-panel door leads into the earlier part of the house. The central ground-floor room has one chamfered ceiling beam with Wern-hir stops and one plain ceiling beam. The joists are chamfered with Wern-hir stops. The west wall features a three-light diamond mullion window, which was originally six-light. There is a fireplace with a chamfered oak lintel and straight-cut stops. To the left is a stone fireplace with a staircase and winders. The third ground-floor room has one chamfered ceiling beam and unmoulded joists. It has a gable fireplace with a projecting unplastered breast and a broad fireplace opening with a timber lintel. The first floor contains 17th-century plank and batten doors with strap hinges. One north-facing bedroom has a good 18th-century Forest (‘duck's nest’) cast-iron grate. The attic space has six bays and includes collar trusses and two tiers of purlins. Carved into the face of a principal rafter at the north end of the house is the inscription: ‘This is the trustees part of the house'.