EDUCATION.
There was a school in the parish in 1609. (fn. 50) Henry Masters, the deprived vicar,
was said to have kept a school during the Interregnum. (fn. 51) Henry Stodgell, by will of 1701, gave
a rent charge to teach 4 poor children but the
endowment had been lost by 1776. Ann Seager's
bequest in 1714 of a £2 rent charge to teach poor
children maintained a small school with 8 pupils
in 1776, (fn. 52) and one with 5 pupils in 1819. (fn. 53) The
endowment presumably supported a day school
with 47 pupils in 1825, (fn. 54) and it supported 5 out
of the 41 boys at a day school in 1835. (fn. 55) It was
transferred to the National school, but was lost
between 1903 and 1962. (fn. 56) In 1819 there were
two other day schools teaching 30 children; four
schools were started in 1829 and 1830, and in
1835 there were 5 day schools besides the endowed school. (fn. 57) There was also a Baptist Sunday
school, opened in 1824 and closed soon after. A
Sunday school was held at the Baptist chapel
between 1827 and 1856 jointly by the Baptist
and parish churches; it had 60 pupils in 1835. (fn. 58)
The Baptists took it over in 1856 and built a new
schoolroom in the chapel in 1858. It was
removed in 1875 and another new room was
built in 1884. (fn. 59)
By 1846 a National school had been established
with 30 children but the premises, a cottage on
the glebe, were inadequate. (fn. 60) A new school was
built north of Zion Baptist chapel between 1871
and 1873. (fn. 61) In 1903 there were 99 children on
the books with two classrooms and four teachers.
Subjects taught included basket making and
poultry keeping and the school received the
Seager endowment. (fn. 62) Numbers fluctuated but
rose to 127 in 1945 and fell to 72 in 1955 after
the removal of senior pupils. By 1975 numbers
had risen to 307 and there were 260 children on
the register in 1981. (fn. 63) A new building was
opened in Hyde Lane c. 1972 but the old one
remained in use until 1983. (fn. 64)
There was a girls' boarding school at Creech
Heathfield between 1861 and 1881 and a private
elementary school in 1882. (fn. 65)
Footnotes
| 50 |
S.R.O., D/D/Ca 160. |
| 51 |
A Compleat Hist. of Som. (1742), 10. |
| 52 |
S.R.O., D/D/Vc 88; Char. Don. pp. 1044-5. |
| 53 |
Educ. of Poor Digest, p. 781. |
| 54 |
Ann. Rep. B. & W. Dioc. Assoc. S.P.C.K. (1825-6),
80. |
| 55 |
Educ. Enq. Abstract, p. 802. |
| 56 |
Char. Com. files. |
| 57 |
Educ. of Poor Digest, p. 781; Educ. Enq. Abstract, p.
802. |
| 58 |
W. M. Wigfield, Bapt. Ch. at Hatch Beauchamp, 18;
Educ. Enq. Abstract, p. 802. |
| 59 |
Zion Bapt. Ch., newsletter, Oct. 1974, 7. |
| 60 |
Nat. Soc. Inquiry, 1846-7, Som. 6-7; S.R.O., D/D
(S/2340), sale partic. 1870. |
| 61 |
S.R.O., DD/EDS 5753; P.O. Dir. Som. (1875). |
| 62 |
S.R.O., C/E 4/380/123. |
| 63 |
Ibid. 4/64. |
| 64 |
Local inf. |
| 65 |
P.O. Dir. Som. (1861, 1875); P.R.O., RG 10/2368; RG
11/2365; Our Village, 40. |