Description

John Lessels, dated 1865, incorporating earlier fabric in part, with further schoolroom dated 1912; later additions and alterations to front and rear. Asymmetrical range in school gothic forming part of terrace comprising single storey, 2-bay block to outer left (Bankhill); single storey with attic, 2-bay principal block at centre (Drumoyne); single storey with attic, 3-bay range to right with single storey, 2-bay block to outer right (The Old Schoolhouse). Predominantly squared and snecked tooled cream sandstone; red sandstone margins in part; terracotta dressings; tooled rubble at rear. Base course; moulded eaves course with chevron detail; quoins; chamfered openings; predominantly sandstone mullions. Rubble sandstone to single storey block to outer right; corbelled brick eaves course; overhanging timber bracketed eaves.

SW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION, BANKHILL: 2-bay range to outer left (former schoolroom) with 5-light, round-arched glazing row in lean-to projection to right; large, 5-light, pointed-arched window breaking eaves to left with decorative terracotta hoodmould; sandstone panel dated '1912' centred in gablehead; surmounting wind vane. Segmental-arched canopy with Corinthian springers and decorative eaves recessed to outer left (adjoining Thistle Cottage). DRUMOYNE: 2-bay principal block (former schoolroom) with tripartite, pointed-arched window to right; decorative terracotta hoodmould; gabled dormer aligned above with decorative bargeboards. Gabled bay breaking eaves to left with large, 5-light, pointed-arched window at ground; decorative terracotta hoodmould; carved sandstone swag above (embossed 'Foulden'); lozenge-shaped panel recessed above with decorative tiles and shield dated '1865'. THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE: 3-bay range to right with 4-light, round-arched glazing row centred at ground; projecting 3-bay, lean-to porch to front with barley-twist, Corinthian columns dividing bays; modern windows in infilled porches flanking centre (left - Drumoyne; right - The Old Schoolhouse); 3-light, round-arched glazing row in hipped dormer breaking eaves at centre. Single storey, 2-bay range to outer right with projecting 6-light window to left; single window in former doorway to right (bracketed canopy in place).

NE (REAR) ELEVATION, BANKHILL: part-glazed timber door at ground to left; bipartite window to right; irregularly fenestrated at 1st floor; large, tripartite window in gabled bay to outer right. DRUMOYNE: 2 large bipartite windows off-set to right of centre; glazed addition centred at 1st floor; single window at ground to left; bipartite window at 1st floor. THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE: single windows at both floors to right; single window in gabled projection at 1st floor to left. Lower range to outer left with 3-bay, flat-roofed addition at upper floor.

Predominantly 6-pane timber windows; some modern windows at rear. Red tile roofs with fishscale banding to front; grey slate roofs at rear (modern pantiles in part to The Old Schoolhouse); decorative brattishing. Stone-coped skews; gabletted skewputts. Coped sandstone stacks (built up in brick in part); circular cans.

INTERIORS: not seen 1999.

BOUNDARY WALL: low coped sandstone wall enclosing site to front.

Statement of Interest

Foulden Village B Group comprises 'No 37', 'No 37A', 'Bankhill, Drumoyne & The Old Schoolhouse', 'Rose Cottage', 'Thistle Cottage' and 'Wallflower Cottage' - see separate list entries. Forms part of a picturesque, Flemish style terrace, fronting Foulden's main thoroughfare. An unusually-detailed range, now divided in three - the internal boundary between Drumoyne and The Old Schoolhouse being particularly difficult to define. Commissioned in the early 1860s by John Wilkie, then owner of Foulden House and principal landowner in the parish, the schoolhouse and school (extended in 1912) remained in use as such until 1965. It should be noted that the OS map marks a school on this site in 1857 and the OS Name Book describes Foulden School as being 'a small rectangular building one storey high and in tolerable repair, containing a schoolroom capable of accommodating about 50 scholars.' It is possible that this single storey building is that which now forms the E range of 'The Old Schoolhouse', later incorporated within Lessels' design. With its barley-twist columns (originally extending to Bankhill), decorative terracotta tiles and red fishscale roofs, this asymmetrical range is the most distinctive in the terrace - the renovation of which was also funded by Wilkie in the mid to later 19th century. Wilkie was well travelled, and is said to have been particularly influenced by a village he had seen in Belgium - possibly accounting for the description of Foulden as 'a little Belgium in the heart of the Borders' (Berwickshire Advertiser, 1932). The OS Name Book however, notes how 'the houses are built of brick (in imitation of English cottages).' In 1842, prior to its renovation, Foulden village was described as having 'gone utterly to decay' (Topographical Gazetteer). By 1866, although much reduced in size, it was considered to be 'the prettiest [village] in the county' (Rutherfurd's). Photographs held in the NMRS show a louvred ridge spire surmounting the original school room (now Drumoyne) - no longer in place 1999.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17853811

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)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)