5 Free Church Place, Melrose, Melrose, Scottish Borders

Description

This former Free Church School (now 5 and 6 Free Church Place) was built in 1844. It is a 2-storey, 5-bay, rectangular-plan building with a symmetrical frontage and is set back from the road behind a rectangular garden plot. In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 and adjoining workshop to south.

The principal (north) elevation is of squared rubble with polished ashlar dressings, chamfered margins and square Tudor-hoodmoulds above the doors and ground floor windows. The slightly advanced central gable has a pair of entrances (formerly boys and girls entrances) with timber doors and large margined fanlights above each door. The first floor windows are narrower than those to the ground floor and have gablets. The piended roof is slated and has end chimney stacks with octagonal cans. The windows have multi-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames, some of which are replacements. There are cast iron rainwater goods with ornamental ties.

The interiors, partially seen in 2016, are remodelled following the change of use of this former school to dwellings.

Statement of Interest

Built in 1844, the year after the Disruption in the Established church in Scotland, this building is an early example of a former Free Church School. It has distinctive, Tudor detailing with a largely unaltered, symmetrical frontage and distinguishing features including a twin door arrangement (separating boys and girls), Tudor hoodmouldings and narrow first floor window with wallhead gablets. The building is set back from the road as it was designed with an enclosed playground area in front of the building (now a garden plot), and this immediate setting is of interest as an indication of the building's former function.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 and adjoining workshop to south.

Age and Rarity

A Free Church congregation was formed in Melrose in 1843, the year of the Disruption, and St John's Free Church (later the United Free Church) opened in November 1843. The Free Church School was built one year later in 1844 (Cruft et al, p.557) at Church Place, 20 metres to the east of St John's Free Church. St John's Free Church was demolished in 1979. The Melrose Free Church manse at 11 High Cross Avenue (see separate listing) was built by 1846. The New Statistical Account for Scotland for Roxburghshire (1834-45) notes that the people of Melrose are 'universally alive to the benefits of education' (p70). The rectangular footprint of the school is shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map, surveyed in 1856.

The Free Church and Free Church school movement was the result of a division in the established church in Scotland, known as 'The Disruption of 1843'. The Patronage Act of 1712 allowed landowners, rather than the local congregations, to choose their ministers and these longstanding tensions came to a head when 474 ministers (around a third of the total number) agreed to split away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church. This move resulted in the building of Free Church churches, manses and schools across Scotland between 1843 and 1872. The 1872 Education (Scotland) Act made elementary education compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 13 and there was an explosion in school building in Scotland. The Free Church made a significant contribution to the new system by handing over around 400 existing schools across Scotland without charge to the locally elected School Boards (Parsons, p.116). Schools built before the 1872 Act that survive in close or near to their original form are relatively rare.

Free Church schools built between 1843 and 1872 were often paid for by subscription and financial donations made by prominent local figures and supporters of the church. Free Church Schools that predate the 1872 Act are therefore more likely to be architecturally individualistic in design, whereas the majority of schools built in the wake of the 1872 Act tended to follow more standardised models established by the School Boards.

There are currently 20 listed former Free Church Schools, the majority of which are located in the Highland and Argyll regions. In the Scottish Borders, the Boston Free Church School of 1843-44 in Duns (LB26548 - listed at category B) is a well-detailed example with intricate carved stone mouldings. The Gothic style 'Queen's Gallery' (LB51177 – listed at category B) at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh was initially built as a Free Church and adjoining Free School in 1846. The former Free Church School in Callander (LB50393 – listed at category C) is another architecturally distinguished example with an interesting, classically-influenced door piece and largely paid for by a prominent local benefactor in 1849.

Within this context, the former Free Church School in Melrose is an early Free Church School, built in 1844 the year after the disruption. It has distinctive Tudor detailing with a largely unaltered, symmetrical frontage recessed from the streetline, and distinguishing features including a twin door arrangement (separating boys and girls), Tudor mouldings and wallhead gablet details (see Architectural or Historic Interest below).

Architectural or Historic Interest

Interior

The interiors of No 5 and No 6 have been renovated and reconfigured following a change of use to domestic dwellings during the 20th century and no interior fixtures or features which directly evidence its former school function were seen.

No 7 has a diamond lattice window, relocated from the exterior to an internal partition wall as part of the residential conversion work in 2007.

Plan form

The internal plan form of the building, including the relationship with the former schoolroom section to the rear, has been substantially altered following the conversion of the building to dwellings.

The separate entrances for boys and girls (as noted in The Buildings of Scotland: Borders, p.557) shows to some degree the former internal plan form at 5 and 6 Church Place. Segregation of the sexes was common practice in education during the mid-19th century.

Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality

Free Churches and Free Church Schools constructed after the disruption of 1843 and before the Education Act of 1872 tended to be funded by local benefactors, with local architects and builders often commissioned to design them. As a result they were built in a variety of styles, some more architecturally ambitious than others. In the case of the Melrose former Free School, the symmetrical front with separate doors for boys and girls, the Tudor detailing and the narrow first floor windows with wallhead gablets add to the character of the former school building.

Setting

The building is located to the west of the town centre in a predominantly residential area with a number of architecturally distinctive churches, villas and former manses and open recreational spaces. The former Free Church School is set back from the road as it was designed with an enclosed playground area in front of the building (now a garden plot), and this of some interest as an indication of the building's former function. The immediate setting of the building retains much of its early to mid-19th century historic character, and the former Free School building contributes to the social and architectural history of the town.

Regional variations

There are no known regional variations.

Close Historical Associations

There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance at present (2016).

Statutory address, listed building record and category of listing changed from B to C in 2016. Previously listed as 'High Street, (South Side) Church Place'.

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing
Wikidata IDs Q17843596 Q17843610 Q56643910

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