Description

Latheron School comprises an 1821 two-storey, three bay schoolhouse and a later 19^th 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 20^th 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 19^th 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 1^st Edition Ordnance Survey map).

The 1^st 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 2^nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (revised 1905). In the late 19^th 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

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17827244

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

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  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
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  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)