MEM24568 - Exford C of E First School (Building)

A large rectangular building is shown on the Exford Tithe Map at c. SS 8540 3840, set back from the road and with a large garden area to the southeast. It is labelled 986, which the accompanying Apportionment describes as "Cottage and Garden, owned by "the Master and Fellows of Saint Peters College Cambridge", with the lessee and occupier being Joseph Relph (The Glebe). [1] By the time the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map was surveyed, the building had either been demolished and rebuilt or altered with small extensions to form a school. It is labelled "School" and has an Ordnance Survey bench mark marked on its northern elevation. To the rear (south) a small linear outbuilding abuts the southern extent of the land parcel at SS 8540 3838, which shows some subdivision. [2] The 2nd Edition map shows a similar plan, although the main building had been extended to the south. A small outbuilding is also depicted abutting the main road at SS 8541 3841. [3] Since the 2nd Edition map was surveyed, the linear outbuilding to the south has been removed, as has the small outbuilding abutting the road. The main school has also been greatly extended to the east. The site is now labelled "Exford C of E First School". [4] The main school building is shown on Google Streetview as a rubble stone building with larger ashlar quoins and openings in red sandstone. It has a slate roof with decorative ridge tiles and a central rubble stone chimney, again with larger quoins. The main building is rougly aligned east to west but has a large gable end facing the north on the eastern end of this elevation, featuring a large central window and decorative barge boards; the western end of the northern elevation has a ground floor bay window with a slate roof and a dormer window above it. The western elevation has the main door to the property with small windows to either side and a window above, and plain barge boards. To the east, various extensions have been added to the school. That nearest the road (north) is reached by a single storey flat roofed extension and has a large slate roof with decorative barge boards matching those on the main building on the western end. [5] The Somerset Heritage Centre holds plans of Exford School dating from 1 July 1871. The architect was AV Horne of Watchet. They also hold a draft deed of the site with a plan and schedule of deeds, dating to 1872. [6,7] In 1962 the school had two classes and 40 attendants (6 children coming from Honeymead), a resident teacher and another teacher being the wife of the manager of Liscombe Experimental Farm in Dulverton. [8]