Building record 0492500000 - CHALONER'S SCHOOL, STEEPLE CLAYDON

Dimensions - Length 12m, Width 11m.
Plan Form - Square.
SCHOOL BUILT HERE, 1656, BY SIR THOMAS CHALONER (INSCRIPTION OVER DOOR) & ENDOWED BY £12 PA. CLOCK STILL REMAINS (B1).
MUCH IMPROVED, 1838, & HOUSE FOR MASTER BUILT (B2).
School, now part of the Public Library, about 550 yards WNW. of the church, is of one storey, with walls of red brick; the roof is tiled. Was built and endowed in 1656 by Sir Thomas Chaloner, and was converted to its present use when the present school was built in the 19th century. The plan is rectangular, with modern additions on the NE and NW. The SW front has a chamfered plinth and a moulded brick cornice; the porch at the S end is modern, but re-set in the gable is an original stone, carved with the inscription 'H SCHOL FUND T.C. MDCLVI', a shield with the Challoner arms and a motto 'Libertas optima rerum'. The gabled SE end also has a chamfered plinth. Over the E end is a bell-cot, probably original. Interior:-On the SW wall is a piece of panelling of mid 17th century date. The ceiling is a segmental barrel-vault of plaster. Condition-Good (B3).
At NGR (B5).
Grade II. School, now library, built 1656, the gift of Sir Thomas Chaloner. Extended to rear 1856 at expense of Lady Dunsany. School-master's lodging, now caretaker's flat, added to left 1841. Village Hall added to rear right-hand corner 1902, by Parker and Unwin for Edmund Verney. Brick, tiled roofs. School: thin bricks in English bond, plinth, band course over windows and former doorway, moulded eaves. Old tile roof with C19 bargeboards to right gable. Chimney stack to left has 3 square shafts set diagonally. One storey. Front has 2 cross windows to left with gauged brick heads, and keyblocks. Terracotta plaque inscribed "1656 Chaloner Public Library 1902" between windows. C19 gabled porch to right with painted C17 plaque commemorating founding of school re-set over door. Right gable has similar window with 2-light mullioned window over, and rendered square bellcote opening. 1841 Lodging is gabled to road with square bay window to ground floor and paired casement over. Village Hall in Arts and Crafts style has battered brick buttresses and elaborately hipped roof swept down over lobby and 3-bay open verandah to front. 3-light wooden mullion windows, 2 to clerestory, and 3 to ground floor with painted glass and benches with heart motifs below. Lobby to right has similar 2-light windows. Interior of hall has large inglenook fireplace with tiles, painted panels and benches with backs of carved panelling dated 1663. Similar panels to front of stage. School has fragment of C17 panelling. Cheque for £50 from Florence Nightingale set in stone plaque in rear room. RCHM II p. 273 Mon.5 (B4).