Description

Earlier to mid 19th century. Single storey and attic Cotswold Tudor former school, rectangular-plan, 4- x 1-bay. Roughly squared and snecked sandstone with deeply chamfered arrises and ashlar dressings: stone mullions.

ENTRANCE ELEVATION: 4-bay. Recessed bay wo outer left with bipartite window, tripartite windows in bays to centre flanking slightly advanced shouldered wallhead stack; broad gabled bay to right with 4-centre arched door, hoodmould and blank tablet above.

SW ELEVATION: small window to left and large tripartite at centre, with small gablehead light above.

NE ELEVATION: bipartite window.

REAR ELEVATION: 3 tripartite windows to main block, door to recessed bay to right.

Timber lying-pane glazing pattern in sash and case windows. Slate roof with bands of fishscale slates. Sawtooth coped skews and bracketed skewputts. Stone ridge with metal ventilators. Modern Velux rooflights to rear.

INTERIOR: not seen 1997.

Statement of Interest

Part of the Sinclair's Hill B Group, with Nos 1-5, No 6 and 7-8 Sinclair's Hill, built for the Kimmerghame estate. The NSA stated that the proprietor of Kimmerghame made provision for a school and master's house, and a stipend of ?10 per annum, and Groome reports that in the closing years of the 19th century the school could seat 100 pupils but that the average attendance was 47. However, confusion arises over the inclusion of a school room in the original design for what is now the Old School House, apparently later in date, and certainly unable to seat 100 comfortably. This school may thus be later in date, replacing an earlier building on the site, carefully en suite with the earlier cottages and built to cope with a larger population. If it is an earlier hall rather than a school, it may have been designed by Burn and Bryce who were active on the estate in these years, or possibly George Smith who designed the North Lodge to Kimmerghame House in 1835, a one-time assistant to Burn.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)