Description

BARNSTAPLE

SS558331SE CHURCH LANE
684-1/9/97 (East side)
19/01/51 Old School Coffee House, formerly
Horwood's School
(Formerly Listed as:
CHURCH LANE
(East side)
The Former Horwood's School)

GV II*

School, now in use as restaurant. 1659, restored 1917 (date
plaque). Local stone rubble; slate gable-ended roof; left end
stack with old brick corner shaft.
C17 plan intact. Single schoolroom on the ground floor, heated
at left end, with cross passage entrance to right. Stair in
rear projection rises from end of passage. First floor divided
into 2 rooms, the left one heated from the same stack, the
right one unheated.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2-window range, one window
to the ground floor. Fine doorway to right with original
moulded frame with elaborate carved stops and original
panelled studded door. 4-light window to left, probably 1917,
with ovolo-moulded timber mullions, original chamfered stone
cill and the remnants of the original stone hoodmould. 2
first-floor original 3-light ovolo-moulded mullioned windows,
all windows glazed with C20 diamond-leaded panes. Slate plaque
over door carved "A H 1659" with coat of arms and inscription:
"this school was founded and built for 20 poor maids by Alice
Horwood, restored 1917".
INTERIOR: schoolroom divided from passage by original screen
with moulded planks. Original moulded doorway with elaborate
stops blocked and replaced with new doorway. Schoolroom has
fine moulded segmental-headed stone fireplace with plaster
decoration above: the initials AH, Tudor Rose and Prince of
Wales' feathers. 3-light mullioned window on rear wall (now
internal) is probably 1917. Narrow moulded plaster cornice
breaks forward slightly on rear wall. Heavy moulded timber
attached to screen retains some large pegs for coats and hats
and may be original.
Stair with turned newels, probably 1917. Ovolo-moulded doorway
with bar stops to doorway at top of stairs. Larger upper room
has apparently original internal porch. Upper rooms divided by
original moulded plank screen with original moulded stopped
doorway and plank door with strap hinges, similar door with
closet adjacent to fireplace. Coved plaster ceiling over both
rooms with slender moulded cornice to match the one
downstairs. Recess next to stack may have contained original
cupboard.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the building stands adjacent to Horwood's
almshouses in Church Lane (qv). The school was founded by
Alice Horwood's will of 1652 in buildings erected together
with the almshouses. A new building was erected for this
school and the Blue Coat Boy's School in 1844 at North Walk,
and the two schools were amalgamated. In 1882 the girls were
moved to the new National School (Bovett).
This is an exceptionally well-preserved small C17 charity
school.

Listing NGR: SS5586233151

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532978

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)