The Old School House stood at the top of the green in Cronkbourne Village, a model housing scheme built by sailcloth manufacturer William F. Moore for workers at his Tromode factory, designed by architect Ewan Christian (later President of the RIBA) and thought to be the only such workers' village on the Isle of Man outside the mining industry, predating better-known English examples like Port Sunlight and Bournville. The building served as the centre of village life, doubling as a school, which gave local children free education well before it became compulsory, and as a chapel, which remained in use until as late as 1964. The village is also known as the birthplace, in 1864, of the designer Archibald Knox.