EDUCATION.
By deeds of 1709 and 1713
ratified under his will Thomas Horde (d. 1715)
charged lands in Aston manor with £6 a year to
teach 20 poor children of Aston and Cote to read
the Bible. (fn. 77) Though the bequest was recorded
throughout the 18th century, (fn. 78) two elementary
day schools recorded in 1808 and together teaching 50 children were unendowed, and then as in
1824 the bequest was received presumably by
the Sunday school. (fn. 79)
By 1835 the bequest was paid to a National
school which had 30 pupils paying pence. (fn. 80) In
1868 the school's annual income totalled c. £42,
including, besides the Horde charity, c. £3 from
unspecified Bampton charities and £5 from the
unidentified Betton's charity, received from the
Ironmongers' Company. It then received no
government grant, and lack of support from
most landowners meant that it was running at a
deficit. (fn. 81) Its original site is unknown, (fn. 82) but in
1856 a new National schoolroom and house,
designed in 13th-century style by James Castle
of Oxford, were built east of the church on land
allotted to the vicar and churchwardens at inclosure, the cost met by the vicars, by subscription,
and by a government grant. (fn. 83) By 1866 accommodation had been increased from 72 to 95, and
by 1868 there were 42 boys and 56 girls on the
roll from Aston, Cote, Chimney, and Shifford.
Many parents saw little advantage, however, and
attendance was usually lower. About 17 children
were employed in farm and other work almost
continuously, and 24 temporarily paid for by the
curate were removed as soon as he withdrew
support. (fn. 84)
A dissenting school opened in 1827 and with
50 pupils in 1835 was presumably the British
school established in Aston House by Richard
Pryce, minister of Cote 1819-40, which moved
first to a barn in Aston owned by a Baptist
deacon, and in 1845 to the newly built Baptist
chapel and schoolroom on North Street. (fn. 85) In
1871 the National and British schools together
provided accommodation for 152 children, and
168 attended on inspection day, but since the
British school was also used for worship the
inspector ruled that the National school must
increase its accommodation to 160, intimating
that a school board, an unlimited compulsory
rate, and increased fees might be unavoidable. (fn. 86)
In response the National school's trustees appointed a certificated master and mistress,
agreed new fees of between 2d. and 6d. a week,
raised a voluntary rate to which Shifford and
Chimney initially refused to contribute, and
established a committee to look into efficiency
and fund-raising. (fn. 87) Accommodation in the National school came under additional pressure after
Shifford and Chimney were merged with Aston
and Cote into one school district c. 1872, and in
1874 a new infant room increased accommodation to 165, the cost met chiefly from voluntary
subscriptions including £50 each from Henry
Hippisley and Col. Edward Harcourt. (fn. 88) The
British school, which like the National suffered
from inadequate financial support, (fn. 89) closed in
1874, when an expected influx of pupils to the
National school was counterbalanced by falling
population; average attendance in 1875-6 was
only 76, and in 1879 some children were withdrawn to an evidently short-lived dame school
in the former British schoolroom. (fn. 90) Following
the British school's closure two nonconformists
were usually invited onto the National school's
board, a practice reinstated in 1899 after several
years' lapse. (fn. 91)
During the later 1870s the National school was
usually judged satisfactory, though individual
subjects were criticized and there were threats
to reduce the government grant. Income in
1874-5 included a grant of c. £60, reduced to
£48 the following year, voluntary contributions
(c. £64), school pence (£26), and charitable
endowments (£14), and in 1881 the Ironmongers' Company withdrew Betton's charity
since the school had a balance in hand. Fees,
formerly related to parents' means, were replaced in 1878 by flat rates of 1d. for those under
7 years and 2d. for those older, and voluntary
rates were raised occasionally. (fn. 92) Average attendance during the 1880s rose from 97 to 136, (fn. 93) and
in 1894 another new infant room was added, the
cost met by voluntary donations; thereafter attendance fell with population, though in 1900
the infant mistress had more children than she
could manage. (fn. 94) Reports continued to be satisfactory, (fn. 95) and in 1926 the school became a junior
school for children under 11, the seniors going
to Bampton. Though average attendance fell to
50 by 1939 and in 1962 there were only 58
on the roll, the school was then a 'robust community'. (fn. 96) Extensions were built in the 1950s and
c. 1973, and in 1993, when further extensions were
planned, the roll was 111. (fn. 97)
A second dissenting school, with 20-30 pupils
in 1808, was perhaps connected with a boarding
school reportedly opened in Aston House by a
relative of Joseph Stennett, minister of Cote
1798-1810. (fn. 98) Another, supported from parental
contributions, had 18 pupils in 1835, but was
not mentioned later. (fn. 99) A private day school
opened in 1826, supported from voluntary contributions and pence, continued in 1835, (fn. 1) and a
private day and night school, run, according to
the curate, by 'a dwarf of bad character', was
mentioned in the 1860s but had closed by 1872. (fn. 2)
A school training young girls for domestic service was established in Aston in 1888 with 5 or 6
pupils, and in 1913, with c. 70 girls aged from
12 to 16, moved to newly-built premises (later
St. Joseph's) on Bampton Road. That school
taught standard academic subjects as well as
domestic skills, and received a government
grant; additional income included profits from
its commercial laundry business, run from the
original building off Back Lane. (fn. 3) The school
closed between 1920 and 1924, (fn. 4) and St. Joseph's
was used as an orphanage and, in the late 1930s,
as a home for Spanish Civil War refugees. (fn. 5) In
1992, as Westfield House, it was occupied by a
private nursery school.