Portlaw National School

Detached four-bay single-storey double-pile national school, c.1870, on a T-shaped plan with single-bay single-storey projecting bay to left, and corresponding single-bay single-storey return to west. Extended, post-1927, comprising three-bay single-storey wing to south with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed lower infill bay to north-west. Part refenestrated, c.1995. Now disused. Pitched slate roofs (double-pile (M-profile) to original block; gabled to projecting bay and to return) with clay ridge tiles, cut-stone coping with cross finials to apexes, rendered chimney stack to wing, and cast-iron rainwater goods on exposed timber eaves. Flat bitumen felt roof to infill bay. Painted roughcast walls with cut-stone plaque. Square-headed window openings with rendered sills. Replacement uPVC casement windows, c.1995, to original block. 1/1 timber sash windows to wing with openings blocked-up to rear (west) elevation. Square-headed door opening with tongue-and-groove timber panelled door, sidelights, and overlights. Set back from road in own grounds on a wedge-shaped site at junction of two roads with tarmacadam yard to site, and random rubble stone boundary wall to perimeter having cut-stone coping.

An attractive building of two periods that retains its original form, together with some important salient features and materials. The building is of particular importance in a local context as one of the earliest-surviving educational facilities in Portlaw, and one that was apparently originally financed by a local convent. Now disused, the school nevertheless forms an attractive feature in the townscape, occupying a prominent site at the junction of two roads on the way into the centre of Portlaw from the north.