A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



NOTTINGHAMSHIRE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS FOUNDED BEFORE 1800' 



ELSTON. All Saints' School, Elston, which, 

 in 1907, had an average attendance of 57, was 

 originally founded as a grammar school in 1615, 

 and endowed with property left by a former 

 rector, the Rev. Lawrence Pendleton (see Intro- 

 duction). The school was probably always ele- 

 mentary in character, and was already under 

 Privy Council inspection in 1867. The income 

 from endowment at that time was 20, and still 

 remains at very much the same figure. 



WORKSOP. William Medley on 28 March 

 1628 gave one-sixteenth of the rents of lands, to 

 be purchased with jTioo, for the parish clerk, for 

 teaching poor children ; and Mary Sterne, at a 

 later date, gave the residue of the rents of lands, 

 to be acquired with a like sum, for teaching poor 

 children to read and write, the teacher to be by 

 preference one of the eight poor widows receiving 

 2s. bd. at Christmas under her will. The income 

 of these charities, together with Woodhouse's, 

 amounted in 1827 to 30 a year, from property at 

 Butterthwaite in Ecclesfield parish, together with 

 ji2 I2s. interest on accumulated savings; and 

 from this source 14 was paid to the master of 

 the Abbey National School. Under a settlement 

 of 1778, by which he was to teach the children, 

 the parish clerk also received los. a year, though 

 no longer giving instruction. 2 In 1907 the 

 Worksop Abbey National School in four depart- 

 ments, boys', girls', junior mixed, and infants', 

 had an average attendance of 966 children. 



RUDDINGTON. James Peacock, by will 

 31 August 1641, gave jiOO for converting a 

 messuage into a school and schoolhouse, and a 

 cottage and adjoining land in the parish for sup- 

 porting a schoolmaster. In 1828 the rents (^65) 

 were paid to a master, who occupied the school- 

 house rent free, for teaching the three R's, reading 

 the Scriptures and the Church Catechism free of 

 charge, to all boys and girls of Ruddington above 

 six years of age. The attendance in summer 

 averaged 20, and 50 in winter. The school- 

 house had been recently restored and improved at 

 a cost of 420. Non-parishioners were charged a 

 fee. 3 In 1 866 the gross income from endowment 

 amounted to 86 ; and next year 76 boys and 

 8 girls were being instructed without fee. The 

 school was under diocesan inspection. The pre- 



1 The account of these schools is based upon the 

 reports of the Commission for inquiring concerning 

 Charities and Education, to which detailed references 

 are given, supplemented by the Tabular Digest of 

 Returns in the Report (xvi, 451-9), of the Schools 

 Inquiry Commission (1867), Tenure and Trusts of 

 Voluntary Schools, published by the Board of Educa- 

 tion in 1 907, and the latest official list of elementary 

 schools (1908). 



* Char. Com. Ref>. six, 420-3. 



Ibid, xxi, 454, 455. 



mises were rebuilt in 1875, on land belonging 

 to the charity acquired by exchange, by the 

 family of the late Charles Paget, M.P. for Not- 

 tingham, in memory of him and his wife, who 

 were drowned at Filey Brigg in 1873. In 1907 

 the Ruddington Endowed Elementary School had 

 an average attendance of 149 boys. 



SuTTON-iN-AsHFiELD. Until 1827 a sum of 

 30;. a year had been paid to a mistress at Sutton, 

 out of the rents of land given for education by 

 Anne Mason, by will I November 1669 ; it was 

 then decided to employ it for the support of a 

 National School, erected in 1818. The proceeds 

 of a gift by Elizabeth Boot for educating poor 

 children, increased by the rents of an inclosure 

 allotment, amounting altogether in 1828 to 

 9 8;. a year, had been devoted to the same 

 object. 4 In 1 907 the Sutton-in-Ashfield National 

 School had an average attendance of 280 in the 

 mixed, and of 124 in the infants' department. 

 The present buildings were erected in 1845, an( ^ 

 enlarged in 1882. 



WEST DRAYTON. Henry Walter, steward to 

 the Earl of Clare, by will 10 April 1688, gave a 

 rent-charge of 25 on lands in Yorkshire for a 

 schoolmaster to teach reading, writing, and what 

 he could of grammar learning, free of charge, to 

 children up to fourteen years of age from 

 Haughton, Bothamsall, Elkesley, Gamston, West 

 Drayton, Milton, and Bevercotes ; and ^i a 

 year for providing coal for the schoolhouse and 

 \os. a year for books. He directed his executor 

 to build a school of brick and covered with tile, 

 33 ft. long and 18 ft. broad, with a chimney and 

 an outstroll at one end ; and desired the master 

 to spend ^5 on a dial, and an inclosing ring of 

 oaks I oo ft. away from the school. A site was 

 given by the Earl of Clare. The school was 

 erected in 1692. In 1837 there was a school- 

 room, and apartments for the master adjoining 

 and above it. The master was responsible for 

 repairs. At that time about 50 boys attended 

 in winter and were taught in accordance with 

 the founder's instructions; boys also remained 

 after fourteen, beginning then to learn arith- 

 metic at a fee of Sd. per week. Some scholars 

 paid 15. a year for coal. The master's salary 

 was 26. 6 The income from endowment in 

 1866 was 26, and in 1867 the master instructed 

 27 boys and i girl. The school was not under 

 government inspection. In 1907 the Haughton 

 Endowed Mixed School, West Drayton, had an 

 average attendance of 79. The present build- 

 ing were erected by a voluntary levy in 1878 at 

 a cost of about 260. 



SOUTH LEVERTON. The Endowed Elemen- 

 tary School was built by John Sampson and 



4 Ibid. 415, 416. 



5 Ibid, zxzii, pt. ii, 647, 648. 



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