Description

Mid 19th century, with later or late 19th century alteration. Former school buildings in terraced form comprising single storey and attic 3-bay teacher's house to S, single storey 3-bay schoolroom to N. Harled walls to teacher's house, harl-pointed rubble walls to schoolroom.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: asymmetrical, 6-bay (grouped 3-3) elevation, regularly-fenestrated schoolroom to left of centre, teacher's house to right of centre comprising gabled porch projecting in centre bay with vertically-boarded timber door in S side and 6-pane timber fixed-light in W side, windows in flanking bays.

N ELEVATION: single storey lean-to double-doored entrance porch projecting at ground, segmental-arched doors to E and W ends, former with vertically-boarded timber door, latter with cement-rendered infill; narrow 2-pane fixed-lights flanking centre of N wall, bipartite timber glazing to segmental-arched window centred in principal gablehead rising behind.

E (REAR) ELEVATION: asymmetrical, lower eaves to regularly-fenestrated teacher?s house at left of centre; single window centring schoolroom to right of centre, with piend-roofed store projecting immediately to left.

S GABLE: asymmetrical, lower eaves to right.

Timber sash and case glazing, 12-pane to W elevation and E window of schoolroom, 6-pane to E windows of house, 4-pane to 2-light timber-mullioned window in N gable. Purple-grey slate roof, cement-rendered skew-copes with block skewputts, finialled to N gable. Gablehead and ridges stacks respectively to S and N of teachers house, harled, with concrete copes and circular cans; single-flue cement-rendered and lined shouldered wallhead stack with circular can to N end of E elevation.

INTERIOR: vertically-boarded timber wainscoting to schoolroom; cast-iron stove fronting timber chimneypiece at S wall.

PLAYGROUND AND GARDEN WALLS: random rubble walls forming rectangular enclosure around building; internal wall running E-W dividing playground and garden.

TOILET BUILDINGS: single storey L-plan children?s toilets integral with playground wall at NE corner; harl-pointed rubble walls with purple-grey slate monopitch roof. Single storey square-plan teacher?s toilet integral with garden wall at SE corner; harled walls with purple-grey slate mono-pitch roof.

Statement of Interest

Now used as a holiday cottage, West Yell remains a fine example of a rural school displaying many traditional finishes and features, although some elements of the schoolroom suggest a remodelling of the later or late 19th century. The formally-positioned toilet blocks are a particularly remarkable survival, ancillary buildings of this sort usually being demolished at an early stage when the original use of a building ceases.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77771790

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

• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)