The history of the school
In early Victorian Britain many children did not go to school. From 1833 the government gave money to churches and charities to set up schools which more people could afford. The structure built at this time still remains. At one end of the schoolroom there was a gallery, on which the younger children were taught by monitors under the supervision of the master, who taught the rest of the scholars on the floor below. Apart from the monitors, the master's only assistance came from his wife, who taught the girls how to do needlework. There were, at times, as many as 160 children on the school roll, but the vicar and various ladies from Silkstone & Cawthorne visited and took an interest. The ladies supplied material for the needlework from which the girls made garments for themselves.
The road outside the school was merely a country lane which became very muddy in rainy weather. There was a small playground, but the children were not allowed to play outside in wet weather or they would have brought mud into the school on their clogs!
The only heating in the school room was from a coal stove which often filled the room with smoke & often sulphurous fumes! At these times the school was unusable and the children were given an extra day's holiday to add to the three weeks of scheduled holidays that they were allowed during the normal school year.
Church services were held here before the church was built in 1869. Attendance at the school fluctuated with the seasons and the weather. The hay, corn and potato harvests took precedence over education and children were often kept away from school to help on the farms.
The total cost of building the school, including outbuildings and boundary walls, was £143.19s 0d. The outer walls were of Thurlstone stone, lined with brick, with a three inch cavity between the inner brickwork and a bond stone to every yard. At this time the population of Hoylandswaine was 689 and the number of children in school was 114.
