Description

1851; 1897 extension by J A Souttar, Aberdeen, builder Messrs Smith & Co, Stonehaven and joiner R Mitchell & Sons, Stonehaven; restored 1950s, replacement windows 1990. Tall single storey and attic, L-plan former school, early range with steeply-pitched roof and bellcote, and later tall 2-storey, 3-bay range to N forming U-plan. Squared and snecked, and random rubble with ashlar quoins; stugged ashlar with droved margins to N; harled to E. Raised base course and bracketted band course. Raked cills. Hoodmould with label stops and traceried window incorporating trefoil head. Segmental-arched doorway and broad segmental-arched windows. Chamfered reveals.

N (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: centre bay with broad window at ground and tall traceried window above rising into gablehead, broad window to each floor of bay to right, and bay to left with 2-leaf vertically-boarded timber door with decorative ironwork hinges below segmental-arched niche now with coloured plaque worded 'STONEHAVEN & DISTRICT SEA CADET CORPS' and narrow window beyond.

E ELEVATION: 3 segmental-arched windows to set-back centre bays under steeply-pitched roof with small piended dormer window to left and 2 vertically-astragalled traditional rooflights to right, cross-finialled stone bellcote to left at roof ridge and base of stone cross to right at gablehead adjoining later range. Advanced gabled bay to left with door at ground, blocked arrowslit in gablehead and mitred stack straddling apex; door to catslide-roofed outshot on return to right. Tall blank gable projecting at outer right, with door and window to ground of return to left and further window to 1st floor.

S (REAR) ELEVATION: single storey addition to right at ground, segmental-arched window to left and 3 small piended dormer windows to steeply-pitched roof.

Some 4-pane glazing pattern in timber sash and case windows; small pane replacement glazing to N; modern windows elsewhere. Grey and purple slates. Coped ashlar mitred gablehead stacks with some polygonal cans. Ashlar-coped skews with mitred, moulded and block skewputts. Cast-iron downpipes with decorative rainwater hoppers and fixings.

INTERIOR: moulded plasterwork cornices; boarded timber dadoes; horizontally-panelled timber doors with fluted architraves; some plain timber fire surrounds; cantilevered dog-leg staircase and decorative cast-iron balusters. Evidence of internal alterations at lowered ceiling abutting head of 1st floor traceried window and to N-S range (now known as Main Deck) with base of trusses exposed.

BOUNDARY WALLS: high semicircular-coped rubble boundary walls.

Statement of Interest

The early fabric retained from the original Episcopal School offers a tantalising glimpse of how Stonehaven's Old Town High Street may have looked, and how it has developed with the nearby site of the Episcopal Church now home to a 'new building '. Part of which is a baker's shop, [which] covers the site of the old Episcopal Church', Eeks. The new building referred to was erected in 1880 and is now a separately listed building in its own right. The cruciform-plan Episcopal Chapel was built in 1737, it was gutted by Cumberland as he passed through Stonehaven on his way to Culloden, and subsequently used as a stable until renovated in 1815. It was finally demolished in 1877 when the congregation moved to Sir Robert Rowand Anderson's St James' Church in Arbuthnott Street, now an 'A' listed building. James Souttar's extension incorporated two new classrooms, and was opened on 4th January, 1898. The school remained under the control of the Episcopal Church until 1939, when it was closed and the building taken over by the education authority. After a period of neglect, the building was rescued by the Sea Cadet Corps in 1954. Lord Stonehaven asked Alan Mitchell Lieutenant Commander Retired to take over the unit, and the resultant high standards consistently achieved have won the Stonehaven Unit Training Ship Carron the freedom of the burgh. The Unit has been awarded the prestigious Canada Trophy (best unit in Britain) no less than five times.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77778065

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

• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)