Stogursey: Education

EDUCATION.

The parish clerk taught 3 or 4 small children in 1606. (fn. 1) Francis Rawlins was licensed as a schoolmaster in 1662 and remained until his death in 1710. (fn. 2) Two other masters were licensed in 1662, and a schoolmistress died in 1706. (fn. 3) By 1759 two teachers were each receiving £2 a year from offerings at communion services and in that year taught 20 poor children. Extra payments were made to teach sewing, but all support ceased in 1827. (fn. 4) By will of 1764 William Daniel provided for the education of 10 poor children, but the charity had been lost by 1826. (fn. 5) In 1772 the vicar also supported poor children and in 1795 the vestry agreed to establish a Sunday school. (fn. 6) By 1819 there were two National schools, supported by charitable contributions, with a total of 84 pupils, (fn. 7) one in Stogursey village, the other probably at Burton.

In 1825 the Stogursey school was held on Sundays and weekdays, supported by weekly payments and subscriptions; 94 children attended, 6 of them on Sunday only. (fn. 8) It was probably the largest of the four schools in the parish in 1835, with 102 children and a library, (fn. 9) and had 111 pupils and an endowment in 1846. On Sundays there were as many as 89 pupils in 1846 and 128 in 1851. (fn. 10) A new Stogursey school was built in 1860, designed by John Norton in a flamboyant Gothic style, of Quantock stone with Bath stone dressings. (fn. 11) In 1903 it received contributions from the Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol and from Eton College, and there were 200 children on the books. (fn. 12) By 1945 the number had fallen to 112 but by 1955 had risen to 152. From 1957 the school took juniors and infants only and in 1965 there were 142 on the books. In 1988 there were 89. (fn. 13)

The National school at Burton, probably established by 1819, (fn. 14) had 52 pupils in 1835 (fn. 15) and 57 in 1846. (fn. 16) It was still open in 1883 (fn. 17) but has not been traced later. In 1829 an infant school was established in High Street, Stogursey, which closed c. 1871. (fn. 18) There were several small schools in the hamlets: a school with 10 pupils at Wick in 1835, (fn. 19) a boarding school at Shurton in 1841, (fn. 20) a day school there by 1861 and until 1872, (fn. 21) a boarding school for infants at Burton between 1851 and 1871, (fn. 22) and an infant school at Stolford in 1871-2. (fn. 23) In Stogursey village a boarding school for girls and infants with 35 pupils in 1841 survived until c. 1860. (fn. 24)