Shipton Moyne: Education

EDUCATION.

Elizabeth Hodges (d. 1724) left £5 a year for a school to teach the poor of Shipton Moyne. For a school building she devised Punters cottage, (fn. 1) which stood at the south end of the village west of the street. (fn. 2) The school had opened by 1739. (fn. 3) Only 6 children were taught there in 1818 when the poor lacked sufficient means of education. (fn. 4) In 1819 it was decided to admit 7 children for up to 4 years each. (fn. 5) In 1825 39 children attended the school, (fn. 6) which was on the National plan in 1827. (fn. 7) In 1833 it had 33 pupils and was supported partly by subscriptions and fees from a few parents. (fn. 8) The school building was then so dilapidated that, although it was repaired, T. G. B. Estcourt provided a more convenient site near the church. Aided by a grant from the National Society the new school was completed in 1843. (fn. 9) In 1855 the National school in which a winter evening-school was also held, was supported principally from subscriptions and pence but also received the Hodges and Nowell educational charities. Its two departments had a total of 75 pupils, (fn. 10) and in 1906 the attendance was 73. (fn. 11) The number of pupils dropped from 68 in 1911, when the school was called the Shipton Moyne C. of E. school, (fn. 12) to 38 in 1936. (fn. 13) After reorganization of the Hodges educational charities in 1937 the school received £5 a year for maintenance and the parish a third of the remaining income, which in the early 1970s was c. £21. (fn. 14) The school was closed in 1971 and the pupils were transferred to Tetbury. (fn. 15)

Elizabeth Nowell (d. 1788) left £200 stock to the rector for a Sunday school. (fn. 16) Attendance rose from 35 in 1818 (fn. 17) to 56 in 1825. (fn. 18) The school, which was held in Punters cottage, was supported by an income of £6 from the charity in 1827; (fn. 19) it had 49 pupils in 1833. (fn. 20) It had apparently lapsed by 1855 when the endowment helped to support the dayschool (fn. 21) In the early 1970s the income of c. £5 from the charity was apparently not used as there was no Sunday school. (fn. 22)

In 1838 a schoolmistress with 8 boarders lived in the parish (fn. 23) and a private school was recorded in 1879. (fn. 24)