Description

Later 19th century. Single storey gabled, L-plan former school with plain gothic window detailing, lean-to in re-entrant angle, and projecting coal store and later corrugated sheet metal addition to rear. Large blocks of squared and snecked bull-faced granite; painted, stop-chamfered window margins.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: tall gabled hall block running E-W to N, with 2 narrow pointed arch windows and framed panel of heraldic shield in gablehead (with motto 'Forward'). 4 irregular bays of lower block running N-S, with catslide roof to re-entrant lean-to, window, and blocked former door on return, flanked by fanlit doorway (non-traditional door) and further window. Broad gable to outer left with segmental-arched window with stone Y-tracery.

Plate glass, timber sash and case windows (boarded up, 2003). Graded Lancashire slates (some Welsh slate repairs). Zinc and stone flashings. 1 metal ridge ventilator remaining. Carved bargeboarding to eaves with exposed rafters.

INTERIOR: briefly, hall to north and large room to S, linked by entrance vestibule, leading to rear extension. High plain dado. Hall with 2 droved stone chimneypieces; trusses to roof (later ceiling insterted). Further stone chimneypiee to second room. Pair of large enamel sinks in corrugated extension.

BOUNDARY WALLS, GATEPIERS AND RAILINGS: rubble boundary walls with flat, stone coping. Pair of arch-headed stone gatepiers. Iron railings and gates to pedestrian and vehicular entrances.

Statement of Interest

The Old School sits prominently on a bend, in a dip in the entrance to the town's main street. Boarded windows (glazing present) and the absence of former stacks jeopardise its humble charm. Probably dating in its current form to after the 1872 Education Act, it occupies a site graced by a school for two centuries (initially the Kells Parochial School, see NSA). Groome states that the school could accommodate 190 children but that the average attendance at this time was around 100. The former school house lies to the north east. The school closed as such in 1968 and after a variety of uses, was acquired by the Glenkens Community Arts Trust in 2001 for #20,000. The 'Cat Strand' which passes directly under the school is a relatively unusual spring which never runs dry.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77779249

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

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6