Education
A schoolmaster, William Pope,
was living in Eynsham in 1628. (fn. 62) By will proved
1654 Michael Sparke, citizen and stationer of
London and probably native of Eynsham, left
money for the maintenance of a free school, but
an order of 1665 by commissioners of charitable
uses for the executor, Henry Eccleston of Eynsham, to pay the bequest seems to have been
ineffective. (fn. 63) John Bartholomew, by will proved
1701, left £350 to buy land worth £15 a year, of
which £10 was to be paid to a schoolmaster to
teach and provide writing materials for 10 poor
Eynsham boys, the remaining £5 to form an
apprenticeship fund. A court house and school,
later called the Bartholomew Room, was built
by public subscription c. 1703 on land in the
market place provided by the lord of the
manor. (fn. 64) The £350 was put out at interest by the
trustees until 1714, when they bought part of
Long mead; in 1725 the remaining capital with
£20 bequeathed to the school in 1711 by William Plasterer of Stanton Harcourt was spent on
land in Mill mead. (fn. 65) After inclosure in 1802 and
a partition of Long mead in 1803 the trustees
held c. 17 a. of meadow. (fn. 66)
Under Plasterer's bequest two more boys
were educated and 17s. a year added to the
master's salary. (fn. 67) Twelve boys were taught reading, writing, and accounts throughout the 18th
century; in 1738 the vicar was satisfied that his
'statutes' were well observed by the master and
boys. (fn. 68) As land values rose the master's salary
was increased, in 1798 to £12 and in 1808 to
£20. (fn. 69) By then there were between 10 and 15
free, and over 40 fee-paying, pupils and an
accumulating fund to provide a master's
house. (fn. 70) The rent of the Bartholomew estate,
£46 in 1809, was reduced in 1823 to £36,
reflecting prevailing values. (fn. 71) The school had
between 40 and 50 pupils in 1823, and 60 in
1833. (fn. 72)
A Sunday school started by the curate
Thomas Symonds in 1799 was supported by
voluntary contributions. (fn. 73) By 1808 it was attended by 60 children of whom 30 were given
clothing; in 1815 it had 100 pupils taught by two
masters and two mistresses, and by the 1830s
there were over 100 girls and boys of all ages,
supported by subscriptions and church collec
tions. (fn. 74) A Baptist Sunday school, begun in 1830,
had 40 pupils in 1833, and by the 1850s the
minister was teaching day pupils at the chapel. (fn. 75)
In the early 19th century there were a few dame
schools, described as 'really nurseries or
crêches', (fn. 76) and several private schools, some
providing for day pupils. (fn. 77) In 1833 one girls'
school had 30 boarders; (fn. 78) it was probably that at
Newland House, established by 1801 and still
open in the 1840s. (fn. 79) A boys' school at Newland
Lodge had a dozen boarders in 1841 and
Thomas Symonds educated a few gentlemen's
sons at the vicarage. (fn. 80) In 1871 there were five
private schools with c. 70 pupils. (fn. 81) In the early
20th century Miss H. G. Swann ran a private
school at Redthorn House. (fn. 82)
Symonds failed to establish a National school
in the 1830s and 1840, partly because the Bartholomew school trustees refused to merge their
endowments in a new school. (fn. 83) His successor as
vicar, W. S. Bricknell, secured subscriptions
and grants and a National school was built in
1847 in the angle of Swan Street and the Stanton
Harcourt road on land given by Samuel Druce
(d. 1860). The Bartholomew school and its
endowment were transferred to it. (fn. 84) In 1854 the
National school had 70 boys and 40 girls on
weekdays and 194 children on Sundays. An
evening school failed in the 1850s but was active
in the 1860s. (fn. 85) The National school's average
attendance was fewer than 120 in 1867 and 1871,
partly because boys started work at 12 years old
or younger; (fn. 86) others may have attended nonconformist schools.
A school board was formed in 1875 against
opposition from members of the Church of
England. (fn. 87) The new board school on the Witney
Road was opened in 1878 with places for 324
children. There was one certificated master, and
fees were set at 3d. a week for labourers' children, 6d. for others. From the outset the vicar
was satisfied with religious education there. (fn. 88)
The former National school was reopened in
1879 as a Church infants' school, where 45
children were taught by an uncertificated
teacher for 2d. a week each, the vicar supplying
books. The school received a parliamentary
grant, but by 1889 numbers had fallen to 26 and
the school was closed. (fn. 89) An infant board school
was then begun in part of the girls' school,
moving back to the former National school
building in 1898. It continued there until transferred in 1958 to a new primary school in the
former board school. Although the infant school
was a council school the vicar was sole manager
for most of its life. (fn. 90) The National school building was converted into a private house c. 1971. (fn. 91)
In 1904 there were 111 boys, 103 girls, and
108 infants at the three board schools. (fn. 92) In 1926
the schools were reorganized as a mixed school
with 180 pupils and an infant school with 47; in
1938 attendance had risen to 197 and 71 respectively. (fn. 93) From 1948 the mixed school was known
as Eynsham Council (later County) Senior
school and in 1953 had a roll of 208. (fn. 94) The
Bartholomew County Secondary Modern (later
the Bartholomew Comprehensive) school, built
on the playing fields of the senior school, was
opened in 1958. The old school buildings became the primary school until a new primary
school was opened in Beech Road in 1967. (fn. 95)
Eynsham County Primary school was said in
1968 to represent 'the most advanced thinking
in Britain' about primary education. (fn. 96) By 1983
the Bartholomew school had a roll of 1,097 and
the County Primary school 305. (fn. 97)
Apprenticing through the Bartholomew charity in the early 18th century was usually annual
but became intermittent, since the cost of repairs to the schoolroom took priority. By the
early 19th century the fund was sufficient for
regular apprenticing. (fn. 198) A Scheme of 1878 directed that part of the St. Thomas's bread
charity should be used for educational and other
charitable uses. In 1880 the Eynsham schools
received £5 and Freeland school £3; by 1888 the
amounts had increased to £32 10s. for the board
school, £7 10s. for the infant school, and £10 for
Freeland school. (fn. 99) Under a Scheme of 1891 the
Bartholomew trustees were empowered to sell
the Bartholomew Room and devote the charity
to tuition or apprenticeship fees of poor Eynsham boys; they continued to let the building
and in addition received c. £44 a year from land
and interest. (fn. 1) In 1911 a Scheme transferred
£400 stock, considered under the Scheme of
1878 to be the educational endowment of the St.
Thomas's charity, to the Eynsham Educational
Foundation, which under a Scheme of 1914 was
merged with the Bartholomew charity to form
the Bartholomew Educational Foundation for
apprenticeship and other educational purposes;
the foundation's annual income at that time was
£66 and by 1970 £208. (fn. 2) Between 1914 and 1947
26 apprentices were indentured and many exhibitions for grammar school education were
awarded; in recent times funds were also used to
supplement university grants and pay for school
clothing. (fn. 3) In 1983 the Bartholomew Room was
sold to the lessee, the parish council.
A school established at Freeland in 1862 was
moved in 1871 to new premises, comprising
schoolrooms and a teacher's house, built by the
Taunton family to the designs of J. L. Pearson. (fn. 4)
The school, privately owned until conveyed by
Miss M. Taunton to the diocese in 1933, was
always run in accordance with Church of England principles. (fn. 5) Until it became a Controlled
school in 1963 its links with the nearby church
included attendance at a weekly children's
mass. (fn. 6) At first an uncertificated teacher taught
47 pupils, who contributed 2d. or 1d. each. A
qualified teacher was soon appointed and from
1875 a government grant was received. (fn. 7) Winter
evening classes were reported in 1878. (fn. 8) In the
early 20th century average daily attendance was
35. (fn. 9) By 1930 some senior children travelled to
Church Hanborough and from 1940 all seniors
went to Woodstock. (fn. 10) In 1963, when there were
57 pupils, the school's academic standards were
high but the buildings unsatisfactory. (fn. 11) In
1964-5 a new county primary school was built
on Wroslyn Road, and the old school converted
into a private house. (fn. 12) In 1983 the school roll
was 112.
A benefaction for choral scholars by C. E.
Taunton in 1900 was used partly for the school;
in 1951 the school share was set at £10 a year.
The income enabled the school to retain Aided
status until 1963, when a new Scheme devoted
the fund to special educational benefits, such as
the Sunday school. Part of a charity founded by
will of R. A. R. Bennett, proved in 1931, was for
the general benefit of the church and parish and
may be used for educational purposes. (fn. 13)