Survey Data
Reg No
50070307
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Previous Name
Saint Michan's National School
Original Use
School
In Use As
Store/warehouse
Date
1780 - 1820
Coordinates
315120, 234580
Date Recorded
15/10/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached gable-fronted three-bay two-storey former school, built c.1800, having six-bay side (west) elevation. Now in use as wholesale warehouse. Pitched slate roof with cement rendered chimneystacks. Rendered walls to front (south) elevation, having pedimented gable, painted nameplate with cornice forming sill course to first floor windows, and channelled render to ground floor with plinth course. Lined-and-ruled cement render to west elevation. Square-headed window openings with rendered reveals, stone sills, and nine-over-nine pane timber sash windows. First floor central window to front elevation having pediment, those flanking having cornices. Round-headed recessed door opening to front elevation, with spoked fanlight over timber panelled door. Granite step. Cast-iron railings on carved granite plinth wall to south, enclosing area paved with stone setts. Yard to west enclosed by rendered boundary wall with cast-iron railings.
Appraisal
In use as a boys' school until the 1980s, this building retains much of its early fabric and form. A classical vocabulary has been employed in the south elevation to enhance and elevate the status of the building, while the more high profile elevation to Anne Street North is unadorned. Despite the narrowness of Cuckoo Lane, this was the main entrance to the school, and the west elevation was not visible, as the Ordnance Survey maps indicate a short terrace faced onto Anne Street North. Associated with the nearby Roman Catholic church of Saint Michin's, this was one of several primary schools in the area, and is of significance as a repository of memory for local people who attended. Its current use by a long-established fruit and vegetable wholesalers continues the markets tradition of the area.