Description

BICKINGTON BICKINGTON
SX 77 SE
7/24 Church Hall
-
GV II

Church hall, formerly the church school and schoolmaster's house. Built in 1848;
toilets added at rear in late C19 and 1970s. Stone rubble, with dressings of
Devonian limestone for the quoins and for the relieving arch of the east window;
oolitic limestone for the surrounds of windows and doorways. Late C19 toilet of
yellow brick. Asbestos-slated main roof; corrugated-asbestos roof on lean-to at
right-hand end. On right-hand gable a stone chimneystack having twin shafts with
chamfered outer angles and shaped limestone tops. A similar stack is said to have
stood originally on the centre of the ridge. On left-hand gable is the stone base
of a former bell turret. Plan consists of the school hall to left and the
schoolmaster's house of 2-room plan to right; hall has entrance-porch in front,
the entrance to the house being in a lean-to against the right-hand gable-wall.
Latterly, at least, the infant school is reported to have occupied the left-hand
ground-storey room of the house. Hall is single-storeyed and house 2-storeyed with
single-storeyed entrance-porch. Hall has no windows in front wall, simply a small
buttress at each end and the entrance porch slightly off-centre. Porch is steeply
gabled, its doorway with a 2-centred arch having a blank tablet above it; door is
of diagonally-set planks with long wrought-iron strap-hinges having fleurs-de-lis
terminals. In left-hand gable-wall is a large window with chamfered surround and
straight hood-mould; 3-light wood casement with 2 panes per light. Above it
(lighting upper part of hall) is a similar 2-light window, but with the hood-mould
removed. The schoolmaster's house, which is slightly taller and is set back a
little, is 2 windows wide. Ground-storey windows have chamfered surrounds and
straight hood-moulds. Upper-storey windows are steeply pitched dormer gables
containing 2-light wood casements with pointed heads to the lights. Windows in
both storeys have diamond-shaped leaded panes. Entrance-porch to right has
chamfered, shouldered-head doorway; door consists of diagonally-set planks. 2
windows in right-hand side-wall of porch, both having chamfered jambs. Rear wall
of hall has on east a large window with chamfered jambs; 3-light mullioned-and-
transomed casement with small panes. To the west of it is a window with chamfered
jambs and straight hood-mould; 3-light wood casement with 2 panes per light. Rear
wall of schoolmasters house has at west end of ground storey a window with
chamfered jambs and straight hood-mould; 2 light wood casement with diamond-shaped
leaded panes. In upper storey 2 dormer gables matching those at the front.
Interior not inspected.
Sources: White's Directory of Devonshire, 1878, p.148. Information from Mr R
Laskey, the sexton.

Listing NGR: SX7998772656

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26503952

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, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)