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Summary

The Old School House in Silver Street in Buckfastleigh was built as part of a larger school in the 19th century

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1218143: FORMER SCHOOL BUILDING IMMEDIATELY NORTH EAST OF THE OLD VICARAGE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX76NW/109
• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 392311

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• SCHOOL (XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Two buildings shown as 'Vicarage' on 19th century map.

Department of Environment, 1985, Images of listed buildings in Buckfastleigh, 15/07/1985 (Photograph). SDV359974.

Image of the school taken in 1985.

Dartmoor National Park Authority, 1997, Buckfastleigh Conservation Area Partnership Scheme (CAPS) photographs (Photograph). SDV365552.

Parker, R. W., 2002, Archaeological Recording at the Old Schoolhouse, 23 Silver Street, Buckfastleigh (Report - Watching Brief). SDV348810.

Archaeological recording and documentary research undertaken in 2002. The schoolhouse represents a fragment of a much larger building which appears to have been constucted at the beginning of the 19th century to house a grammar school..

Parker, R. W., 2005, Archaeological Recording at the Old Schoolhouse, 23 Silver Street, Buckfastleigh, 1-15 (Report - Survey). SDV336035.

The schoolhouse is shown on the Tithe Map for Buckfastleigh and was originally a much larger building. It appears to have been constructed in the early part of the 19th century and functioned as a school from around 1815-1840 but little documentary evidence of the school remains. From about 1830 the school went into decline and the size of the structure was reduced to its present size. It may have been at this point that the building was first rendered, to cover the scars of the demolished sections of the building. The linking building between it and the Vicarage was retained during these changes but a short time afterwards it was removed and the doorway blocked. At the same time, the original roof was removed and rebuilt at a lower level.
During the 20th century the building appears to have been used as a storeroom of some sort; the floors were relaid in concrete and internal divisions removed. In the late 20th century the garage doors were knocked into the north part of the south-western wall. Despite all these alterations the building retains evidence of its original high-quality design and likely would have been quite impressive when complete. It is an unusual example of an establishment founded by a single individual.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

English Heritage, 2011, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV347072.

Schoolroom, partly used as garage, partly disused. Probably dates to around the 1820s with later alterations. Rendered slatestone rubble; secondary concrete tile roof, gabled at ends; stack with dismantled shaft.
Plan: sited immediately north-east of The Old Vicarage (qv). Rectangular two-storey block, roofed on a north-west/south-east axis. Ground-floor room heated by lateral stack on the north-west side towards the northern end.
EXTERIOR: two storeys. The south-western side, facing the vicarage, has altered openings: garage doors to the left, doorway alongside to the right, blocked window to the right hand, with brick arch. Two blocked first-floor windows with brick arches. The north-western end has a platband below the gable and tall round-headed recess with a 20th century ground floor window. Tall round-headed first-floor 16-pane sash with cast-iron glazing bars and spider's web glazing in the head. Blind rectangular recess in gable. South-eastern end not seen externally but retains the spider's web glazing of a window that may have matched that on the north-eastern end.
INTERIOR: fireplace with semi-circular stone arch to the left on the north-eastern wall. Later fireplace, perhaps for copper in the centre, tall round-headed recess to the right. Cross beams with sunk ovolo mouldings. First floor also has round-headed recesses to the walls. Other details: LB UID: 392311.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV5136 - Recording at the Old Schoolhouse, Silver Street (Ref: 05.28)
• EDV8934 - Condition survey of Buckfastleigh Conservation Area

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