Description

SS 72 NE BISHOP'S NYMPTON NEWTOWN

2/56 The Old School and schoolmaster's
- house

II

Board school and schoolmaster's house, converted to 2 houses, the school converted in
the 1930s (information from owners) 1876 (datestone), with C20 internal alterations,
dressed local stone with freestone dressings; slate roofs, gabled at ends; front
lateral stack to school, axial stack and end stack to schoolmaster's house.
Unusually ambitious Gothic for a board school.
Plan: 2 parallel ranges on a west east axis, sited at a crossroads in an isolated
position, the school to the south, the schoolmaster's house to the north linked to
the school by a small block.
Exterior: Surprisingly unaltered, especially the school, which has an attractive,
symmetrical 2 window south front, the lateral stack in the centre stepped at the top
with a tall, yellow, brick shaft. Separate gabled porches for girls and boys, one ot
the left, one to the right, each with string courses, 5 blind lancets in the gable
and pairs of stone mullioned windows with arched lights to each return. The doors
are original to the building, the left hand porch door 2-leaf, the right hand door
originally internal (information from owners) with diagonal boarding. In the centre
a stone plaque with good lettering in a stone frame has the date AD 1876 and the
words Board School, flanked by transomed 2-light stone mullioned windows with
segmental arched lights. The left return of the school is slate hung with a 5-light
transomed stone window with stepped lancets and an asymmetrically-placed bellcote.
The right return has a similar lancet window and a later single-storey lean-to.
The schoolmaster's house retains an original open timberwork porch on the west end
and is fenestrated with a mixture of timber sashes and casements, some C20
replacements, probably in original embrasures.
Interior: School only inspected. The conversion has retained the fine original roof,
king post with curved struts and good carpentry detail.
Notable for its well-preserved Gothic Revival detail which contrasts with plainer
Board schools of the same date in the region. The location is also unusual: Bishop's
Nympton is a large parish and Newton School, known as the Farm School (information
from owners), presumably served the more remote farmsteads in the north of the parish
where it was difficult for the children to travel to the school in the village.

Listing NGR: SS7659125684

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26401044

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

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas