Site:

Astwood Bank First School,

Church Road, Astwood Bank

Grid Reference:    

SP 0423 6282

Description:

Board school. 1876-7 by E.A.Day, enlarged 1894 with some mid/late 20th alterations and early 21st century hall. Brick with stone dressings and tiled roofs. Mainly single storey. Main south frontage includes two large gabled blocks of classrooms separated by a teachers� house. Original windows have quoined surrounds and most are pointed and include stepped lancets beneath the main gables. Hipped-roofed canted bay windows on ground floor of teachers� house with loopholes in apex of gables. Brick wall with yellow brick detail and shaped blue brick coping runs along main road frontage and includes several gateways and railings.

Significance:

Large group of Victorian school buildings with a dominant gabled roof profile and good detail. Despite subsequent alteration, they make a strong and distinctive statement due to their prominent roadside location, contributing much to the character of the locality. The boundary wall forms an important part of the composition which complements the nearby Church of St Mathias and St George. (q.v.)

History:

This building........