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School, schoolhouse and walls, Latheron

A Category B Listed Building in Latheron, Highland

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Coordinates

Latitude: 58.2836 / 58°17'0"N

Longitude: -3.3664 / 3°21'58"W

OS Eastings: 319974

OS Northings: 933585

OS Grid: ND199335

Mapcode National: GBR L61T.YFS

Mapcode Global: WH6F9.8261

Plus Code: 9CCR7JMM+CF

Entry Name: School, schoolhouse and walls, Latheron

Listing Name: Latheron Former Schoolhouse, School and Walls

Listing Date: 28 November 1984

Category: B

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 339933

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB7928

Building Class: Cultural

ID on this website: 200339933

Location: Latheron

County: Highland

Electoral Ward: Wick and East Caithness

Parish: Latheron

Traditional County: Caithness

Tagged with: Architectural structure

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Latheron

Description

Latheron School comprises an 1821 two-storey, three bay schoolhouse and a later 19th century, slightly advanced single-storey, four-bay classroom attached to the west gable of the schoolhouse. The school was extended around 1878. Rubble with tooled ashlar dressings, slate roofs.

The schoolhouse has a central entrance opening with a timber lean-to porch, added in the 20th century. The schoolhouse has replacement windows, predominantly 12-pane glazing throughout and and coped end chimneystacks.The school has four large windows in south elevation and a single segmental headed window in the centre of west gable. Predominantly lying-pane glazing. Stone finial on west gable and wallhead chimneystacks.

Roughly coped dry stone walls surround the school and schoolhouse with two pairs of square gatepiers on the south wall. There is a wall dividing the south frontage.

Statement of Interest

Latheron School is a good, representative example of its building type for its date. The exterior form of Latheron School continues to clearly show the historic function of the building as a pre-1872 Education Act parish school with an attached schoolhouse. Externally it has not been significantly altered since the late 19th century, when the classroom accommodation was extended, directly showing the impact the 1872 Education Act had on school provision in this area.

The schoolhouse may have been designed by William Davidson or Mr Alexander of Golspie, and dates from 1821. The classroom was built after the schoolhouse and by 1871 (as it is shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map).

The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1871 shows the front wall of the rectangular-plan classroom was previously flush with the front wall of the schoolhouse. A newspaper article from July 1878 confirms that the classroom was extended to the south and an additional classroom was added at the rear. These changes can be seen in the footprint of the building on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (revised 1905). In the late 19th century changes to a school to increase its accommodation are not unusual, particularly after the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act, when education was compulsory and pupil numbers increased.

Listed building record updated in 2020.

External Links

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