Description

HAYTON

550/0/10007 OLD VILLAGE SCHOOL
20-DEC-2007

II
Former village school now village hall. Built in 1854 for WH Rudstone Reed, then the lord of the manor. Brick with stone dressings beneath a Welsh slate roof. Cast iron rain water goods.

PLAN
The original building is a single room with a main entrance at the right hand end of the principal elevation facing the approach road (Town Street) and a secondary entrance (probably originally for the children) central to the right hand gable. Both entrances are protected by enclosed porches. The later lean-to extension to the rear is not of special interest.

EXTERIOR
The principal elevation faces Town Street to the south west and is of 3 bays. It has a gabled roofed porch to the right and two cross mullioned windows to the left flanking a chimney stack. The windows have diamond leaded lights. The porch has a plank door with decorative iron strap hinges within a chamfered stone surround with a four centred, Tudor style arch. It is flanked by iron boot scrapers that are freestanding on the door step. Above the door to the porch are decorative barge boards protecting a shield shaped foundation stone inscribed with:

HAYTON SCHOOL
ERECTED BY
W.H. RUDSTON REED ESQ
LORD OF THE MANOR
1854.

The roof, that of the main porch and one side of the gable end porch all feature fish scale slating. The slating on the main roof is banded with three bands of fish scale slating increasing in width down the roof slope. The upper band has 3 courses of fish scales, middle band 4 courses and the lowest band 5 courses. Similarly, the intermediate bands of plain slating also increase in numbers of courses down the roof slope. The left hand end the ridge line is broken by what appears at first to be a narrow ridge stack. However this is not a chimney and is interpreted instead as the base for a bell-cote.

The left gable, facing the church, has a single cross mullioned window with plain glass casements. Above is a trefoil air vent which, like the window, is also formed from stone dressings. The roof verge is finished with decorative barge boards.

The right gable is much plainer with no stone dressings or decorative barge boards and only a simple slit in place of the trefoil air vent. The doorway to the gable end porch does however have a rubbed brick surround with a Tudor style arch.

Most of the rear elevation is covered by the later extension; however the segmental arched head of a former window is still exposed. The rear side of the roof, including that of the gable end porch, is plain slated.

INTERIOR
The interior of the original part of the old school is not subdivided. The rear extension, with its inserted doors through the original external wall of the school, is not of special interest. The original school building retains a timber floor, a mid C19 fireplace and also the original inner door to the principal porch complete with a simple Suffolk latch. The inner door to the gable end porch is a later replacement. The open roof structure features king strut trusses with raking struts supporting back purlins. The roof has some embellishment including acorn pendants fixed to the tie beams beneath the king struts. At the time of the inspection this roof structure was observed through the loft hatch in the modern suspended ceiling that obscures the original roof. This modern suspended ceiling is not of special interest.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The old school in Hayton is designated grade II for the following principal reasons:

* As a little altered example of a small village school predating the 1870 Education Act.
* For the interest of the architectural design and embellishment of the elevations facing the approach road and the church.
* For retaining original internal features such as the fireplace and the king strut open roof structure.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671609

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)