MEM22129 - West Somerset Rural Life Museum, Allerford (Building)

Allerford's former village school retains an extensive thatched roof and mainly dates from 1821. An attached schoolhouse, rendered with a slate roof, dates to 1882. Both now form the West Somerset Rural Life Museum.

Allerford's former village school retains an extensive thatched roof and mainly dates from the early 19th Century. An attached schoolhouse, rendered with a slate roof, dates to c.1880. Both now form the West Somerset Rural Life Museum. [1] The school was established in 1861. It was established by the Aclands. [2] The school is depicted and labelled on the 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey maps in a similar layout to modern MasterMap data. [3,4] The School was built in 1821 by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, the 10th Baronet, and opened on 9 July 1821 with about 36 pupils. It began as a thatched L shaped building with a large, high Schoolroom, with an attached two storey house for the head teacher and family. A barn beside the road was demolished and replaced by a new school house for the head teacher in 1882, when the former school house was adapted as an infants' room and kitchen. The gravelled boys playground was to the front, with the earth closet toilet block to the right and the girls' areas behind the Infants' Room and the Schoolroom. The walls are of cob on a stone plinth foundation, rendered and limewashed. When the school opened, the children were taught on the lines laid down by the National Society for Education. Truancy was a problem, with children going to follow the stag hunts or being required to help at home. In 1892 the school's headteacher was Mr George Dewey, followed by William Labrun in 1893. By 1897 the school had about 112 pupils. With the managerial changes resulting from the 1902 Education Act, Sir CTD Acland made the school and school house available to the new managers on favourable terms. In 1944, the school was host to the transferring of the Holnicote Estate from the 15th Baronet, Sir Richard Acland, to the National Trust, who then became owners of the school. It became "Voluntary Aided" in 1951. It finally closed in 1981, when it had just 12 pupils. [5] A former village school and school house, now the West Somerset Rural Life Museum. The single storey schoolrooms date to c. 1821, with tall casement windows, and front lateral stacks with tall brick shafts and a thatched roof. The attached former two storey house dates to the latter part of the century and is rendered with a slate roof and is distinguished by partly slate hung gables and small tiled pent roofs on timber brackets over two ground floor windows. [6] The building reopened as the The West Somerset Rural Life Museum and Victorian School Room in 1984, owned by the National Trust and leased to a committee of Trustees. It houses a collection of artefacts originally gathered by the West Somerset Archaeological Society, as well as an extensive photographic archive. [7] The heritage asset was assessed for inclusion on the Exmoor Local Heritage List in November 2022. It was decided to add the asset to the Local Heritage List. [8]