School House and the Old School
SCHOOL HOUSE AND THE OLD SCHOOL, HIGH STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1248832
- Date first listed:
- 24-Aug-1990
- List Entry Name:
- School House and the Old School
- Statutory Address:
- SCHOOL HOUSE AND THE OLD SCHOOL, HIGH STREET
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-05-03
- Reference:
- IOE01/03906/02
- Rights:
- © Mrs Jane Comeau. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1248832
- Date first listed:
- 24-Aug-1990
- List Entry Name:
- School House and the Old School
- Statutory Address 1:
- SCHOOL HOUSE AND THE OLD SCHOOL, HIGH STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- SCHOOL HOUSE AND THE OLD SCHOOL, HIGH STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Kent
- District:
- Tunbridge Wells (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Bidborough
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 56511 43140
Details
TQ 56 43 BIDBOROUGH HIGH STREET (south end)
11/17 School House and the Old School
GV II
School, used as village hall, and schoolmaster's house. 1856 (Kelly's Directory of Kent (1891)), erected at a cost of ?659 8s. (Skinner, p.27) some C20 additions to the master's house. Red brick with blue headers and sandstone dressings; peg-tile roofs; brick stacks. Tudor style.
Plan: Irregular north-facing range sited south of and below the church. Small 2-bay schoolroom to the right (west), heated from a lateral stack on the north side with an entrance block to the left. The schoolmaster's house, adjoining at the left, has a porch on the north side.
Exterior: 2 storey house, single-storey schoolroom. Asymmetrical 4 window north elevation, the master's house set forward from the school and entrance block and gabled to the front at the right end. The entrance block is also gabled to the front, the schoolroom is parallel to the road. Symmetrical 2- window north front to the schoolroom, the lateral stack with set-offs in thecentre, flanked by stone 1-light trefoil-headed windows with gabled ventilators in the roof. The right return of the schoolroom (west end) has 2 2-light trefoil-headed windows below an elongated quatrefoil and a 3-light rear window with trefoil-headed lights. The entrance block has a shouldered stone doorway to the right and a 2-light window with trefoil-headed lights to the left with a trefoil in the gable. The master's house is plainer with square-headed stone windows in the block gabled to the front. To the left of this the roof of the extreme left hand block is carried down as a catslide to the porch with a square-headed stone doorway. The left end of the master's house and right end of the schoolroom have flat-roofed single-storey C20 additions.
Interior: The schoolroom retains its original tie beam roof construction with queen posts with straight braces and arch braces between tie and collar.
The land for the school was given by the Rev. Sir Charles Hardinge in 1853 and the finance for the building was raised by subscription with a grant of £178 from the Council of Education. The building was supposed to accommodate 60 pupils with the children of labourers paying 2d per week and those of tradesmen and farmers paying 4d per week (Skinner).
An attractive C19 school, group value with the church and Rock Cottages (q.v.).
Skinner, F.A., Bidborough. a Parish History (1986 edn.).
Listing NGR: TQ5651143140
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 430587
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Skinner, F A, Bidborough a Parish History, (1986)
Kelly's Directory in Kelly's Directory of Kent, (1891)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 13-Jun-2026 at 23:20:35.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.