CHURCHES.
Ecclesiastically Burntwood
remained part of the parish of St. Michael,
Lichfield, until the 19th century. By the 18th
century, however, a large number of people
from Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses were
baptized and buried at Hammerwich chapel. (fn. 1)
In 1818, encouraged by the formation of the
Church Building Society, J. C. Woodhouse,
dean of Lichfield cathedral, opened a subscription for building and endowing a church to serve
Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses. He
pointed out that the inhabitants were so far from
the parish church that they rarely went there
and were 'exposed to become a prey to the
wildest and lowest of the sectaries'. He led the
way by giving £100, and some £900 was contributed by the clergy, leading landowners, and
principal inhabitants of the area, by the parishioners of St. Michael's, and by the inhabitants of
the Close. Over £80 was raised in small subscriptions. A grant of £350 was made by the
Church Building Society. Sir Robert Peel gave
½ a. at the junction of the later Church Road and
Farewell Lane as the site of the church, and
Lord Anglesey gave an adjoining piece of waste.
Building began in 1819. (fn. 2)
Christ Church was consecrated in 1820, with
a perpetual curate nominated by the vicar of St.
Mary's, Lichfield. (fn. 3) In 1845 it was assigned a
parish out of St. Michael's. (fn. 4) The perpetual
curacy was styled a vicarage in 1868, and the
patronage remained with the vicar of St. Mary's
until the union of the benefices of St. Mary's
and St. Michael's in 1979. It was then transferred to the dean and chapter of Lichfield. (fn. 5)
A farmhouse south-west of the church and
7 a. were bought from Sir Robert Peel as a house
and glebe for the minister. (fn. 6) In 1822 a sum of
£2,297 from benefactions and a parliamentary
grant was invested to provide an income for
him. (fn. 7) Around 1830 his annual income averaged
£78. (fn. 8) In 1851 it consisted of £16 10s. from
glebe, £66 13s. from other endowments, £2
from pew rents, and £2 7s. 6d. from fees. (fn. 9) In
1860, 1863, and 1876 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners made grants totalling £275 a year. (fn. 10)
A new vicarage house was built in the early
1970s on part of the ground attached to the first
house; that house was demolished, and Canterbury Close was built over its site and garden. (fn. 11)
The perpetual curacy was held with that of
Hammerwich from 1831, and it became the
practice to hold the Sunday services alternately
in the morning and the afternoon at each
church. (fn. 12) The congregation at the afternoon
service at Burntwood on Census Sunday 1851
was 90, with a further 29 Sunday school children, the incumbent blaming the bad weather
for the fall below the usual number of c. 160. (fn. 13)
George Poole, appointed in 1852, decided that
he should devote himself to the growing population of Burntwood, and he gave up Hammer
wich in 1858. (fn. 14) About then he started a mission at
Chasetown, and he was preaching in the open at
Boney Hay in 1883. (fn. 15) He introduced the singing
of psalms and hymns. (fn. 16) He was friendly towards
nonconformists, speaking at Primitive Methodist meetings and contributing towards the cost
of a new Primitive Methodist chapel. (fn. 17) He was an
advocate of temperance and became a teetotaller, and he persuaded colliers to speak at temperance meetings in Burntwood and Chasetown. (fn. 18) His successor, Richard Weston, vicar
1886–1922, (fn. 19) opened an iron mission room in
Ogley Hay Road at Boney Hay in 1893; it had
been closed by 1924 and was sold in 1927. (fn. 20) A
parish magazine was started by Weston in 1886
but had lapsed by 1925, when there were plans
for reviving it. (fn. 21) A mothers' union was formed in
1886. (fn. 22) Quarterly collections were introduced in
1888 and weekly offertories in 1909. (fn. 23)
In 1889 the Sunday school received 50 bibles
and 100 New Testaments from Rowland Hill of
Tipton, who distributed copies of the scriptures
widely as a memorial to his wife. Fifty New
Testaments were received in 1891. By 1900 a
Rowland Hill New Testament charity had been
formed for the parish, consisting of a capital
sum of £10, the interest on which was spent by
the vicar and churchwardens on New Testaments. The charity still existed in the mid
1980s. (fn. 24) The parish also benefits from several
bequests for church purposes: £100 from A. O.
Worthington of Maple Hayes by will proved
1918; £100 from Dr. J. B. Spence, superintendent of Burntwood asylum 1881–1924, by will
proved 1928; £2,130 from Mrs. S. E. Homer in
1940; and £300 from John Hall of Burntwood
by will proved 1948. (fn. 25)
CHRIST CHURCH
CHRIST CHURCH, a building of red brick
with stone dressings, was designed in a Gothic
style by Joseph Potter the elder of Lichfield.
Originally it consisted of a chancel, a nave with a
west gallery, and a west tower incorporating an
entrance porch and containing a bell. (fn. 26) A four-bayed north aisle designed by Stevens &
Robinson of Derby was built by subscription in
1869–70 to accommodate the growing congregation. The gallery was removed at the same time,
though, Poole wrote, 'not without a struggle'.
He added that 'the new seats are without doors
… Most of the old pews remain.' (fn. 27) A clock in
memory of Sarah Worthington (d. 1913), wife of
A. O. Worthington, was placed in the tower by
her children in 1921. (fn. 28) A vestry was added at the
west end of the north aisle in 1929; W. W.
Worthington of Maple Hayes gave £100
towards the cost. (fn. 29) The font is dated 1715 and
was originally in Hammerwich church. (fn. 30)
The churchyard was enlarged by ¼ a. in 1878,
½ a. in 1913, ½ a. in 1942, and ¼ a. in 1959. (fn. 31) A
lych gate was erected by subscription in 1931 as
a memorial to Richard Weston (d. 1929). (fn. 32)
In the late 1850s George Poole began holding
Sunday evening services in a carpenter's shop in
what was to become Chasetown. Soon afterwards the services were transferred to the Colliery school there. (fn. 33) A church of St. Anne east of
the school was consecrated in 1865. It was built
and endowed by J. R. McClean, managing director of the Cannock Chase Colliery Co.; all the
sittings were free. In 1876 his widow Anna gave
£1,000 to provide an income for keeping the
church in repair. (fn. 34) The patronage was vested in
McClean and his heirs during the term of the
colliery company's mining lease, with reversion
to the marquess of Anglesey and his heirs as the
landlords. The first minister was the founder's
nephew, D. S. McClean. (fn. 35) A parish was formed
out of parts of Burntwood, Hammerwich, and
Ogley Hay in 1867 with D. S. McClean as the
incumbent. (fn. 36) The living was styled a vicarage in
1868. (fn. 37) On J. R. McClean's death in 1873 the
oatronage passed to his son Frank and in 1888 to
the vicar of Burntwood, who held it in 1987. (fn. 38)
In 1868 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners assigned the incumbent £11 6s. 8d. a year in
respect of a benefaction, which they matched
with a further £11 6s. 8d. (fn. 39) When J. M. Seaton
was appointed to succeed D. S. McClean in
1871, the colliery company granted him a personal stipend of £255 on condition that the
sittings remained free. (fn. 40) When the patronage
was transferred in 1888, the Commissioners
substituted a stipend of £230 and the vicar's
total income was some £293. (fn. 41) Initially a house
on the Hammerwich side of the township
boundary was provided for the incumbent by
the colliery company. (fn. 42) In 1910 land on the east
side of High Street, Chasetown, was conveyed
as the site for a vicarage under the will of
William Pavier Smith, and to meet that benefaction and another the Ecclesiastical Commissioners granted £399 towards the cost of the house.
Building began in 1911. (fn. 43) A new house was built
on an adjoining site c. 1980. (fn. 44)
A church room was opened in High Street in
1908; it was converted into Elim Pentecostal
Church in 1984. (fn. 45) A parish magazine existed by
1896 but had lapsed by 1920 when there was a
proposal to revive it. A magazine was again
published from 1938. (fn. 46)
The church of ST. ANNE on the south side
of Church Street, Chasetown, is a building of
polychrome brick with a slate roof and was
designed in a Romanesque style by Edward
Adams of Westminster. (fn. 47) The dedication may
have been an allusion to the name of J. R.
McClean's wife Anna. The church consists of an
apsidal chancel and an aisled nave of four bays,
and there is a bell in a cote over the west end.
The interior of the apse has marble panels. The
chancel is laid with Minton tiles, while the
sanctuary is of stone inlaid with alabaster. A
Lady chapel was formed in 1960. (fn. 48) The west end
was reordered in 1985; the end bays of the aisles
were formed into rooms on two levels, and a
stairway was inserted. (fn. 49) A bust of J. R. McClean
was installed c. 1947, the cost being met by his
descendants. (fn. 50) The church claims to be the first
in the country to have been lit by electricity,
which from 1883 was supplied from the Cannock Chase Colliery Co.'s no. 2 pit. It also
claims to be the first to have a bell rung electrically, a device having been fitted in 1938. (fn. 51)
The burial ground on the north side of
Church Street was originally ¾ a. in area. It was
extended in 1897 by ½ a. given by the marquess
of Anglesey. (fn. 52) Another ½ a. was added in 1928. (fn. 53)
In 1883 a committee was formed at Chase
Terrace to build a mission room there. (fn. 54) The
foundation stone of the mission church of ST.
JOHN was laid in 1884 by Elizabeth Hussey of
Wyrley Grove in Norton Canes, who met much
of the cost of building. (fn. 55) The church was opened
in 1886. (fn. 56) It had its own wardens and from 1887
its own magazine. (fn. 57) A church room was built in
Ironstone Road in 1939, (fn. 58) and a 2-a. burial
ground in Rugeley Road was consecrated in
1943. (fn. 59) St. John's became a district church with
its own minister in 1986. (fn. 60) Designed by H. E.
Lavender of Walsall, (fn. 61) it is a building of brick
with stone dressings and consists of a chancel, a
nave, and a north-west porch. Originally there
was a bell turret on the north side of the roof
behind the west gable, (fn. 62) but in 1987 the bell
hung in a cote on the west front.
ROMAN CATHOLICISM.
The Heveninghams and their successors as lords of Pipe, the
Simeons and the Welds, were Roman Catholics,
at least from the earlier 17th century, and they
provided a focus for a small Roman Catholic
population in the area. (fn. 63) Edward Sprott of Ashmore Brook (d.1591) may have been the man of
that name who was one of several laymen arrested at Stafford in 1588 while attending a mass
celebrated by Blessed Robert Sutton; like the
other laymen he was condemned to death but
released on payment of a fine. (fn. 64) In 1609 another
Edward Sprott, of Bilston Brook, was presented
for not attending his parish church. (fn. 65) In 1657
five papists were recorded at Pipe Hall, three at
Woodhouses, five at Burntwood, and one at
Pipehill; they were yeomen, labourers, husbandmen, and tailors. (fn. 66) There were nine papists at
Woodhouses and Burntwood in 1706, including
John Bates, the tenant of Pipe Hall, and his wife
and two children; the other five were described
as poor. (fn. 67) Thomas Bridgewood, a priest serving
several Roman Catholic centres in Staffordshire
in the early 18th century, was at Pipe Hall in
1718. In 1737 the hall was one of the Midland
centres served by the Franciscan Laurence
Loraine (alias Thomas Hall). (fn. 68)
Edward Weld, having rebuilt Pipe Hall c.
1770, made provision for a resident priest, with
Weld paying a stipend of £15 a year and the
tenant, William Bates, providing board and
lodging. (fn. 69) When a new priest, John Kirk, was
appointed in 1788, Thomas Weld increased the
stipend to £20, but out of it Kirk had 'to find his
washing and supply the altar'; board was still
provided by the tenant, then Edward Weetman.
Kirk remained at Pipe Hall until 1792, and
during his time there he enlarged the chapel by
the addition of a sanctuary. The chapel was
probably on the first floor: a wall between a firstfloor bedroom and a smaller room behind retains the outlines of a central arch and two
smaller side arches which could have connected
the body of the chapel with the sanctuary. The
furnishings probably included an altarpiece
depicting the Crucifixion by the Flemish painter
Nicolaes de Bruyn (d. 1656). (fn. 70)
Nine Roman Catholics were confirmed at
Pipe Hall in 1774 and 19 in 1788. About 1790
the congregation included some dozen people
from Lichfield. The chapel was closed when the
hall was sold in 1800, and in 1801 a mass centre
was opened in Lichfield. The Pipe Hall vestments, chalice, and furnishings were transferred
to the Lichfield mission, and the Burntwood
area was then served by the priest at Lichfield.
In the 1840s Lady Fitzgerald of Maple Hayes
was a member of the congregation.
The population of the Chasetown area in the
later 19th century included a large number of
Irish immigrants, and c. 1870 a local group
began to raise money to build a Roman Catholic
church. (fn. 71) Land was bought on the west side of
High Street, Chasetown, and building started in
1882. It seems that a mass centre, served by the
priest from Lichfield, was opened the same year
in a shop. The church, dedicated to St. Joseph,
was opened in 1883, and later that year the
Chasetown area became a separate mission with
its own priest. The church was also used as a
school until 1915. A presbytery was completed
east of the church in 1884. The church, which
fronts on New Street, was designed by G. H.
Cox of Birmingham and is a brick building with
stone dressings. Originally it consisted of a
chancel, a nave of four bays, and a sacristy. A
clubroom was added on the north side in the late
1890s. A fifth bay was added at the west end c.
1933, and a choir gallery was erected there; the
entrance, previously at the west end, was moved
to the south-west corner facing New Street. In
1978 land on the south side of Cannock Road in
Burntwood was bought as the site for a church,
hall, and presbytery intended to replace the
Chasetown buildings.
A service was held at Burntwood asylum
every alternate Saturday in 1891. (fn. 72) A mass
centre was started there during the Second
World War, presumably as a result of the opening of an emergency hospital on the site. At first
mass was said in the wards, but in 1948, after the
closure of the emergency hospital, a hut was
converted into a Roman Catholic chapel. (fn. 73) From
1982 mass was said in the hospital chapel.
PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.
A
Quaker named Robert Harrison was living in
Burntwood in 1680. (fn. 74) In 1707 John Derry of
Burntwood had his daughter baptized at the
Presbyterian meeting house in Longdon. (fn. 75) In
1808 William Salt, the Congregational minister
at Lichfield, opened a preaching house at
Burntwood Green; he found the people there 'as
ignorant as heathens - but many disposed to
hear the Gospel'. (fn. 76) A house at Burntwood
Green was registered for worship in 1811, Salt
again being involved. (fn. 77) In 1819 he registered a
chapel there, (fn. 78) but its later history is not known.
Two houses at Burntwood were registered for
worship by protestant dissenters in 1830 and
1842. (fn. 79) In 1846 a house in what became Chase
Road was registered for Primitive Methodist
worship, and it continued to be used until 1849
when a Primitive Methodist chapel was opened
in the same road. The attendances on Census
Sunday 1851 were 16 in the afternoon (with 26
Sunday school children) and 25 in the evening;
the average congregations were claimed to be
respectively 35 and 50. The chapel was replaced
in 1875 by one in Cannock Road, now
Burntwood Methodist church. (fn. 80) A rear extension was built in 1900, and a hall was added in
1983 when the church interior was refurbished
also. (fn. 81)
The club room at the Queen's hotel in Queen
Street, Chasetown, was being used for Wesleyan
Methodist meetings in 1860. A site for a Wesleyan chapel at the southern end of High Street
was bought in 1863 and the chapel opened in
1864. It was rebuilt on a larger scale in 1884 and
later became Trinity Methodist church. (fn. 82) Zion's
Hill Primitive Methodist chapel further north in
High Street was built in 1866. It was closed in
1970, and by 1986 the building was used as a
carpet warehouse. The congregation united with
that of Trinity, which was renamed Chasetown
Methodist church. (fn. 83) It was replaced by a new
church in Queen's Drive off Queen Street in
1977; the Joseph Rank Benevolent Trustees
contributed towards the cost. (fn. 84)
The first Primitive Methodist meeting in
Chase Terrace was held in a room at the Two
Oaks inn. Mount Calvary Primitive Methodist
chapel in Princess Street, Chase Terrace, was
built in 1870; in 1987 it was Chase Terrace
Methodist church. (fn. 85) At Boney Hay Wesleyan
Methodists, having met in the home of John
Howells and his wife, registered a chapel in
Rugeley Road in 1879; it was closed in 1970. (fn. 86) A
Methodist New Connexion chapel was built in
Chapel Street, Chase Terrace, by 1883; later
renamed Carmel Methodist church, it was
closed in 1964 and subsequently demolished. (fn. 87)
The Salvation Army had a barracks at Chase
Terrace in 1899. (fn. 88) Emmanuel Tabernacle in
Cannock Road, Chase Terrace, was registered
by the Assemblies of God in 1940. The original
prefabricated building was replaced in 1962 by
the new Emmanuel Pentecostal church on the
same site. Its name was changed to Emmanuel
Church New Life Centre in 1984. (fn. 89) Elim Pentecostal church was opened in 1984 in the former
St. Anne's church room in High Street, Chasetown. (fn. 90)
EDUCATION.
A school board was compulsorily formed for Burntwood civil parish in
1876. (fn. 91) The county council reorganized the
schools on Hadow lines in 1932. In 1946 or 1947
the two senior schools became secondary modern
schools. Comprehensive secondary education
was introduced in 1965. In 1977–80 Burntwood
became one of the few areas in which the county
council adopted a three-tier pattern of schools
(first schools for children up to the age of 9,
middle schools for children 9–13, and high
schools for children 13–18). The intention was to
provide a greater flexibility in meeting demand in
a district with a rising population. In the mid
1980s, however, a combination of falling school
rolls and restraints on local government finance
led to several closures or threats of merger or
closure. The three-tier system was abandoned in
a reorganization of 1988 which gave Burntwood
10 primary schools for children up to the age of
11 and two high schools. (fn. 92)
Burntwood Charity (National) school.
By will
proved 1770 Elizabeth Ball of Castle Bromwich
(Warws.) left £600 to build and endow a school
at Fulfen, where she owned a farm. (fn. 93) From the
income a master and mistress were to be paid to
teach the elements, knitting, and sewing to poor
children of Fulfen, Burntwood, Edial, Woodhouses, and Hammerwich. Books were to be
bought for the children as necessary. (fn. 94) Miss Ball
asked her cousin and heir James Birch to make
up any deficiencies in her various charitable
bequests.
In 1769 Miss Ball built a schoolroom and a
teacher's cottage at the junction of Coulter Lane
and the later Church Road. On her death later
the same year Birch began to make the stipulated charitable payments. The school had cost
£200 to build, and he therefore paid a master a
stipend equal to the interest on £400. The
money for that and for Miss Ball's other charities in and around Burntwood was drawn from
the rent paid by the tenant of the farm at Fulfen.
The farm descended from Birch to his son and
then to his two grandsons in succession. All of
them apparently made regular payments from
the rent, but none established a permanent
charge on the farm to create an endowed charity.
In 1821 Maj.-Gen. Thomas Birch Reynardson, the second of the grandsons, was paying
£20 a year to a schoolmaster appointed by his
land agent. The money was handed to the
master by the tenant of the farm, who also
nominated the 20 or 30 pupils. (fn. 95) Each child was
given two years' schooling; some stayed longer.
All were taught the Catechism. The boys were
taught the elements, and the girls reading, sewing (by the master's daughter), and, if their
parents demanded it, writing and arithmetic.
Each child paid 1s. a year towards fuel for the
schoolroom. The executors of Andrew Newton,
a Lichfield philanthropist (d. 1806), had given
the school £20, the interest on which (18s.) was
added to the master's stipend.
Supervision of the school seems to have been
lax. By 1821 masters had taken to demanding
fees of 4d. a week whenever a pupil was an only
child whose parents could afford to pay. In 1809
David Moss, master at least from 1782 until his
resignation in 1808, was fined and imprisoned
for indecently assaulting girl pupils. (fn. 96) In 1792
and 1793 he and Elizabeth Moss were running a
boys' boarding school at Burntwood; whether it
was a separate venture or an attempt to transform the charity school is not clear. (fn. 97) The
master in office in 1821 was alleged to suffer
from 'certain defects of temper' which rendered
him unsuitable as a teacher and deterred parents
from using the school. The Charity Commissioners urged Reynardson to establish a properly managed charity.
No formal steps were taken, but Reynardson
continued to support the school. In 1833 it had
50 children attending it; 11 boys and 11 girls
were taught free and the rest paid fees. At a
Sunday school, added in 1820, 44 children were
being taught free. The master's income in 1834
was £40. (fn. 98) In the mid 1840s 50 children were
attending the day school, 21 both the day and
Sunday school, and 8 the Sunday school alone.
There were a master and a mistress, both salaried. (fn. 99)
Reynardson died in 1847, (fn. 100) and in 1849 an
endowed charity was finally created. (fn. 101) In accordance with his wishes his heirs settled the school
building in trust with an endowment of £1,000
stock. The building was to be used as a National
school for Burntwood, Edial, Fulfen, Woodhouses, and Hammerwich and as a teacher's
house. The endowment income was to be used
to pay the master up to £20 a year, to keep the
building in repair, and for general school expenses. In 1852 the new incumbent, George
Poole, considered the National school 'a pretty
roomy cottage'. By 1865 he and his wife were
helping to run a night school there. (fn. 102)
In 1876, when the school board was set up,
the population of Burntwood village itself was
still small, and the board's first thought was
apparently to acquire the National school, which
could accommodate 80 children and was adequate for immediate needs. Poole was in favour
of handing the school over, but negotiations
failed and a board school was built in the village.
The National school was closed at the end of
1878, and the board school was opened in
January 1879. (fn. 103)
The National school building continued to be
used as a Sunday school. During winter months
in the 1880s it was also used as a night school,
and in the 1890s an art class and young men's
improvement classes were held there. (fn. 104) In June
1890 the day school was reopened as a higher
grade National school with two certificated
teachers and 14 pupils. There were 24 children
on the books by December, and by 1892 there
were 36. (fn. 105) The school had closed by 1898. (fn. 106)
There was probably little local demand for it.
The curriculum was limited, and the fees were 4
guineas a year, although reductions were offered
for younger siblings. (fn. 107) Possibly the building was
inadequate: a classroom had apparently been
added in 1887, (fn. 108) but although an appeal for
funds to build a large room was launched in
1888, it was not until 1904 that a room was
built. (fn. 109)
Under a Scheme of 1898 the building was
conveyed for use as an Anglican Sunday school
and an undenominational night school for the
poor of Burntwood ecclesiastical parish and the
part of Chasetown parish in Burntwood civil
parish. The trustees were permitted to maintain
a lending library and run science and art classes,
while the vicar was allowed to use the building
for parochial purposes. One third of the charity's net income was allotted to the rector of
Hammerwich for his day and Sunday schools; in
1903 the allowance was commuted to £8 a year.
In 1905 the charity's gross income was c. £28.
The aims of the charity, subsequently renamed
the Ball and Birch Reynardson Educational
Foundation, were later modified to provide support for an Anglican Sunday school and general
educational help for poorer children. A proposal
in 1929 to sell the buildings failed as a result of
local opposition, and they continued to be used
for the Sunday school and for meetings and
social gatherings, mainly connected with the
parish church, until c. 1965. In 1987 the former
teacher's house was occupied but the rest had
been closed and partly demolished. The charity's annual income, c. £50, was disbursed according to the modified trust deeds. (fn. 110)
Chasetown county primary school (formerly the
Colliery school). The Cannock Chase Colliery
Co. was formed in February 1859, and by July it
was supporting a school, presumably for its
workers' children. A schoolroom had been built
on the south side of the later Church Street,
Chasetown, by 1861, (fn. 111) and a Sunday school was
also held there. (fn. 112) From the mid 1860s, and
probably from the beginning, the school took
girls and infants as well as boys. There was an
evening school by the mid 1860s. (fn. 113) The master of
the boys' department from 1864 was Elijah
Wills, who came direct from Saltley training
college (in Aston, Warws., later Birmingham);
he retired in 1906 as head of the whole school. (fn. 114)
The boys' department began to receive a
government grant in 1864 and the girls' in 1866.
There were infants in both departments. By
1866 there were c. 140 pupils, the building was
becoming overcrowded, and children were being turned away. (fn. 115) In 1867 the company built a
separate schoolroom for the girls and some of
the infants, leaving the original building to the
boys and the rest of the infants. (fn. 116) By 1873 there
were over 400 pupils. (fn. 117) Renewed overcrowding
was eased slightly in 1875 when the company
opened a school at Chase Terrace, but government inspectors continued to demand a separate
infants' department, and for several years part of
the school's grant was withheld. (fn. 118) An infants'
schoolroom was finally built in 1881; within a
month the new department had an average
attendance of over 60. (fn. 119)
Until 1875 the school was generally known
simply as the Colliery school. From 1875 until
1878 it was the Colliery no. 1 school; it then
reverted to its earlier name. It was sometimes
known as St. Anne's school. (fn. 120) At the end of 1887
the company handed it over to the school board,
which reopened it in January 1888 as its no. 3
board school. (fn. 121) In 1892 the boys' and girls'
departments were merged to form a mixed department. In 1896 the school had an average
attendance of over 400. (fn. 122) A new infants' school
was built on the north side of Church Street in
1912. (fn. 123) The mixed department became a junior
school in 1932. It was merged with the infants'
school in 1940, and the 19th-century buildings
were closed. In 1950 the school had 254 pupils.
It became a first school in 1980 and a primary
school in 1988. (fn. 124)
Chase Terrace county primary school (formerly
the Colliery no. 2 school). In 1875 the Cannock
Chase Colliery Co. opened its no. 2 school, for
300 children, on Cannock Road, Chase Terrace. (fn. 125) In 1878 the company decided that it
could no longer afford to maintain it, and the
school board took over the management of what
then became no. 2 board school. Subsequently,
in spite of protests from the ratepayers, the
board apparently bought the buildings. (fn. 126) The
school was enlarged in 1883, and in 1896 it had
accommodation for 600 and an average attendance of 500. (fn. 127)
In 1907 the county council opened a school
for 312 girls and 316 infants in Rugeley Road,
Chase Terrace, leaving the Cannock Road
buildings as a boys' school. The new school,
with two blocks separated by a playground, was
one of the first of the so-called 'Staffordshire
schools', the architect using verandahs instead
of closed corridors in accordance with the education committee's emphasis on adequate ventilation. (fn. 128) In 1931 the boys' school was closed
because of mining subsidence, and in 1932 the
girls' school became a junior mixed school. In
1976, while the buildings were remodelled, the
junior school was moved temporarily to new
buildings in Chorley Road, Boney Hay. It was
moved back to Rugeley Road in 1977 and became a middle school. At the same time the
infants' school became a first school. (fn. 129) A nursery
unit was added to the first school in 1978. (fn. 130) In
1988 the middle school was closed and its buildings became an annexe of Chase Terrace High
School. The first school became a primary
school, retaining its nursery unit.
St. Joseph and St. Theresa R.C. (Aided)
junior mixed and infants' school.
The church of
St. Joseph was opened at Chasetown in 1883,
and a school for boys, girls, and infants was
started in the building in December with 70
pupils. (fn. 131) By 1891 there were 137 on the books.
Only 83 were Catholics; it had earlier been
claimed that some parents sent children to St.
Joseph's when they failed to win prizes at the
other Chasetown school or were asked for fees. (fn. 132)
There was an average attendance of 108 in
1896. (fn. 133) In the late 1890s some of the classes were
held in the clubroom attached to the church. By
1913 the conditions in which the school was held
had been condemned, and in 1914 the foundation stone was laid of a school in High Street
dedicated to the memory of Theresa of Lisieux
(d. 1897), who had not yet been beatified. It was
opened in 1915. In 1940 it became a junior
mixed and infants' school. The building was
extended in 1957, 1966, 1969, and 1974. Later
there was a gradual decline in numbers; in 1983
there were 144 on the roll, fewer than half the
number in 1971. (fn. 134)
Burntwood no. 1 board school (later Burntwood
first school). The school board opened its no. 1
board school in Church Road, Burntwood, in
1879. There was accommodation for 300 children, and a master's house was attached. After a
fortnight there were some 200 on the roll. By
1896 the average attendance was 285. The
school became a junior school in 1932, a junior
mixed and infants' school in 1957, and a first
school in 1979. A large extension was built in the
early 1960s. The school was closed in 1988. (fn. 135)
Schools opened by the county council from the
1930s. (fn. 136)
Chase Terrace high school in Bridge
Cross Road was opened in 1932 as two senior
schools on a single site, one for 320 boys and one
for 320 girls. In 1946 or 1947 they became
secondary modern schools. (fn. 137) They were merged
in 1961 to form a mixed secondary modern
school which became a comprehensive school in
1965 and a high school in 1977.
Boney Hay junior mixed and infants' school
in Birch Terrace was opened in 1965. It became
a first school in 1977 and was closed in 1988.
Park primary school in Tudor Road,
Burntwood, was opened in 1968 as an infants'
school. It became a first school in 1979 and a
primary school in 1988.
Springhill primary school in Mossbank
Avenue, Chasetown, was opened in 1968 as a
junior school. It became a middle school in 1979
and a primary school in 1988.
Ridgeway infants' school in Grange Road, on
the Hammerwich side of the boundary from
Chasetown, was opened in 1969. It became a
first school in 1980 and was closed in 1988.
Ridgeway primary school in Grange Road,
adjoining the infants' school, was opened in
1970 as a junior school. It became a middle
school in 1980 and a primary school in 1988.
Chasetown high school in Pool Road, on the
Hammerwich side of the boundary, was opened
in 1970 as a comprehensive secondary school. It
was extended in 1974 and became a high school
in 1980.
Oakdene junior mixed and infants' school in
Sycamore Road, Chasetown, was opened in
1972. It became a first school in 1980. By 1983
part of the building was no longer in use, and in
1985 the school was closed. (fn. 138)
Highfields primary school in Elder Lane,
Burntwood, was opened in 1974 as a junior
mixed and infants' school. It became a first
school in 1979 and a primary school in 1988.
Fulfen primary school in Rugeley Road,
Burntwood, was opened in 1978 as a middle
school and was temporarily accommodated at
Chase Terrace high school. It moved into the
Rugeley Road buildings in 1979. It became a
primary school in 1988.
Boney Hay primary school in Chorley Road
was opened as a middle school in 1977 in
buildings which had been used in 1976–7 as
temporary accommodation for Chase Terrace
Junior school. It became a primary school in
1988.
Holly Grove primary school in Holly Grove
Lane, Chase Terrace, was opened in 1977 as a
first school. It became a primary school in 1988.
Private schools.
The 'Borned Wodde' where
the antiquary Robert Talbot was teaching a
school in 1531 has been identified as
Burntwood. (fn. 139) It is more likely to have been
Brentwood (Essex).
Samuel Johnson opened an academy at Edial
Hall in 1735 or 1736. He had abandoned the
enterprise by March 1737 when he and David
Garrick, one of his pupils, set out from Lichfield
to seek their fortune in London. (fn. 140) The hall was
again being used as a school in 1807. (fn. 141)
In 1792 and 1793 David and Elizabeth Moss
were running a boys' boarding school at
Burntwood. The curriculum was limited to the
elements and drawing; the Mosses also offered
free dancing lessons and a cold bath, erected 'at
a considerable expense' within 20 yards of the
school. (fn. 142) No more is known of the venture.
Moss was master of the charity school, and he
may have been trying to change that school's
character and discourage poor children from
attending it. That may explain why, some time
between 1794 and 1797, Francis Barber, Johnson's former servant, thought it worth his while
to open a school in Burntwood; it is unlikely that
it was more than a dame school. He had apparently abandoned the venture by 1799. (fn. 143)
A small boarding school was opened at
Burntwood in 1809 and was still being advertised in 1811. The proprietor, J. Child, seems to
have specialized in commercial education: extras
which he offered included gauging and surveying. (fn. 144)
From 1869 dame schools were recorded at
Burntwood and Chasetown, while at Chase Terrace in 1871 a dame school was opened in a
chapel. In the early 1880s there were two dame
schools in Burntwood and two in Chasetown,
with between 30 and 40 pupils in all. One of the
Chasetown schools was run by a certificated
teacher, a former assistant mistress at the Colliery school. In 1883 the school board expressed
annoyance that some parents were taking their
children from board schools and sending them
to her. (fn. 145)
H. W. Hambling, after running a short-lived
boarding school at Hammerwich, apparently set
up in Burntwood in the late 1890s but with no
success. (fn. 146)
A day and boarding school for dyslexic children was opened by Dr. E. N. Brown at Maple
Hayes in 1982. In 1989 it had 120 pupils. (fn. 147)
Further education.
From the early 1870s the
Cannock Chase Colliery Co. provided evening
classes in colliery working and management at
its Chasetown school for its employees. (fn. 148) The
work was later undertaken by the county council, which was among the first local authorities to
appoint a full-time organizer for mining instruction. From 1891 it employed lecturers to give
courses at centres in the Staffordshire coalfields.
Chasetown was one of the original centres, and
thereafter courses were held there regularly. (fn. 149)
The 1911 Coal Mines Act, by requiring firemen in most collieries to pass an examination,
produced an increased demand for practical
instruction. It was partly that demand which led
the county council to open a small mining
institute in Queen Street, Chasetown, in 1913.
The two-storeyed building contained a laboratory, a drawing office, and two lecture rooms.
There was test equipment in the basement and
also an electricity generator which provided
light and power for the building. (fn. 150) From 1929
the mining institute was one of three senior
centres grouped round a new county mining
college at Cannock. (fn. 151) It became an annexe of the
college (later the Cannock Chase Technical College) in 1962 and was closed in 1987. (fn. 152)
By 1896 a local committee was running lectures and classes in practical subjects such as
gardening and home nursing at the Chasetown
Institute in High Street. It worked in conjunction with the county council's technical instruction committee. (fn. 153)
CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.
By will of
unknown date John Ward of Edial (fn. 154) left a rent
charge of £1 6s. 8d.; £1 was to be distributed on
St. Thomas's Day (21 December) among the
poor of Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses
(15s.) and the poor of Hammerwich (5s.), and
the rest was for a sermon at Hammerwich chapel
on Whit Sunday. In 1821 the tenant of a farm at
Edial chose 30 poor of Burntwood, Edial, and
Woodhouses and gave them 6d. each on Christmas Day at Hammerwich chapel. He gave a
further 5s. to an inhabitant of Hammerwich who
distributed it among the poor there. (fn. 155) A Scheme
of 1933 provided that three quarters of the net
income was to be paid to the vicar of Hammerwich and the rest used for the benefit of the
poor. The charity had been lost by 1966. (fn. 156)
By will proved 1709 William Cadman of
Edial, a tailor, left two 40s. rent charges, one for
four sermons a year at Hammerwich chapel and
the other to provide doles for the poor of
Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses at Hammerwich chapel on the Sunday after Christmas
and the Sunday after Midsummer. He left his
cottage and croft at Edial in reversion to provide
two more sermons each year at Hammerwich
and to augment the doles to the poor. He did not
specify how the income was to be divided, but a
trust deed of 1806 assigned £1 a year for the
sermons and the rest to the poor. In 1807 the
cottage, then derelict, was let with the croft on a
10-year repairing lease at 40s. a year. It was
rebuilt with the aid of a bequest from James
Watkins, and from 1817 it and the croft were let
for £4 10s. a year. The trustees were thus able to
distribute £5 10s. a year to the poor. (fn. 157) In the
1920s and 1930s the income from the property
was £8 a year. (fn. 158) A Scheme of 1970 provided that
£2 5s. of the income was to be paid for sermons
and the rest used for the relief of those in need. (fn. 159)
In the later 1980s the charity was managed by
Burntwood town council, which distributed annually most of the income of between £600 and
£700. In 1986–7 the Burntwood and Hammerwich War Fund, established in 1919 to provide a
nurses' home, was added to Cadman's charity. (fn. 160)
By will proved 1770 Elizabeth Ball of Castle
Bromwich (Warws.) left £250 to the poor of
Fulfen, Burntwood, Edial, Woodhouses, Hammerwich, and St. Michael's, Lichfield; the
money was to be invested and the income distributed annually. A codicil assigned the interest
from a further £100 for distribution in Christmas week among the poor of Fulfen,
Burntwood, Burntwood Green, Edial, Woodhouses, Cannock Wood (in Cannock), Gentleshaw (in Longdon), and Hammerwich. The
management of her charitable bequests was entrusted to her cousin and heir, James Birch, and
to his heirs. They made regular payments in
accordance with her wishes but took no steps to
establish an endowed charity. In 1821, to cover
the bequests, Birch's grandson, Maj.-Gen.
Thomas Birch Reynardson, was allowing £14 to
the poor out of the rent from his Fulfen estate. A
'respectable inhabitant' from each of the four
hamlets of Burntwood, Edial, Woodhouses, and
Hammerwich submitted a list of suitable beneficiaries to Thomas Derry, the tenant at Fulfen,
received cash from him, and distributed it on
Lady Day. In 1821 ninety-three people in the
four hamlets received £13 6s. in sums ranging
from 1s. to 6s. and the poor of Cannock Wood
and Gentleshaw received 14s. in bread; there
were complaints that the recipients, although
poor, were not always industrious or deserving.
The later history of the two bequests is unknown; payments to the poor may have lapsed
on Reynardson's death in 1847. (fn. 161)
By will proved 1805 James Watkins of Edial
left £20 towards the repair or rebuilding of the
cottage devised by Cadman. He also left the
residue of his personalty, after the payment of
legacies and expenses, to the poor of
Burntwood, Edial, and Woodhouses. Trustees
were to invest the residue, which turned out to
be 'somewhat above £100', and to distribute
both income and capital at their discretion in
sums of up to £5. By 1821 the invested capital
had increased to almost £190, and the surviving
trustee proposed to use it to establish a Sunday
school. (fn. 162) What in fact happened is not known.
By will proved 1918 A. O. Worthington of
Maple Hayes left £100, the interest to be distributed annually in clothing, food, and coal
among the poor of Christ Church parish,
Burntwood, on St. Thomas's Day. The charity
was still paid in 1986. (fn. 163)
By will proved 1928 Dr. J. B. Spence, superintendent of Burntwood asylum 1881–1924, left
£100 for the relief of the poor of Christ Church
parish, Burntwood, the interest to be distributed
in a similar way to that of Worthington's charity. It was still paid in 1986. (fn. 164)
Woodhouses benefited under the charity of
Theophila Reading of Woodhouses. (fn. 165)