Sandy Lane, Old School House and Cottages

Rare survival in this area of Victorian Gothic Revival. The Old School House developed from a master's house in the cross wing to the west and schoolroom of circa 1865 to a late Victorian assembly of one dwelling and two cottages with the addition of dormers and internal re-ordering. The buildings are of sandstone under steeply pitched slate roofs with multiple chimneystacks. The roof and dormer verges have prominent decorative bargeboards and pointed arched dormer windows each of which carries a quatrefoil decoration carved in relief. These features were probably added at the time of the school's conversion to cottages. A continuous porch in front is carried on a wooden colonnade. Most of the original ground floor windows are double chamfered mullions with carved shoulder arched lintels and the doorways have identical surrounds and lintels. A three light stepped window of identical form occupies an original projecting rear wing. To the rear of the former school there are remains of two enclosed yards, which probably functioned as playgrounds. The area once formed part of the Gosforth Park estate. The Old School House was established by Thomas Eustace Smith on land at the north west corner of the estate lands of Gosforth House for the education of the children of his estate workers after he inherited the estate in 1856. This building is a rare survival of the Victorian Gothic Revival in this area, which is not blessed with many historic buildings - hence the extra value of the few that there are. The loss of this building would be very serious. LOCAL LIST. The building is now in ruins.