Description

SOMERTON NORTH ASTON ROAD
SP42NE (South side)
2/92 The Old School House
26/11/51 (Formerly listed as School)
- II

School and schoolhouse, now house. Late C16, possibly incorporating earlier
elements, re-modelled and extended mid C18 and late C19/early C20. Limestone
rubble with wooden lintels; brick; concrete plain-tile and Welsh-slate roofs
with stone and brick stacks. 3-unit lobby-entry plan, with later additions, and
schoolroom wing to rear. 2 storeys plus attic. 3-window front has casements of
2, 3 and 3 lights to both floors, and has the entrance between bays 2 and 3;
there are several indications of early alteration including a blocked doorway in
bay one. Both gables have brick stacks, and the ridge stack in line with the
entrance has 2 rebuilt diagonal brick shafts on a rubble base. Schoolroom wing
returns from right end and has mostly large C19 stone-mullioned windows, but
retains part of an ovolo-moulded frame in a small window to a former first
floor. Shallow-pitched slate roof has a central ventilator with a weathervane. A
lower C19 wing projecting to the right has a wooden bellcote. A C19/early C20
range, partly infilling the angle, is in brick over a rubble ground floor.
Interior: Schoolroom has a 7-light wooden ovolo-moulded mullioned-and-transomed
window, now internal. House range contains a large open fireplace with a
stop-chamfered cambered bressumer, and has some stop-chamfered spine and lateral
beans; C18 display cupboard with serpentine shelves; winder stair; C18 roof with
queen-post trusses. The school was founded in 1580 by Thomas Fermor and may have
incorporated parts of the castle chapel, reputed to have been on the site.
(VCH: Oxfordshire, Vol VI, p290; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p768)

Listing NGR: SP4968728873

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26319514

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)