Plaque 7

The Old School

Awarded a Blue Plaque in 2015

The Old School was built by Anthony Ward as a single story cottage in 1668, as shown by the datestone over the door. The building was bought for the village and an upper storey added for the boy’s school in 1805 with the ground floor being used for an infant’s classroom with the village prison was at the east end.

Later in the nineteenth century, other schools took over the boy’s education and the upper room became the Parish Council chamber with the ground floor used as cottages for the poor and then a barber’s shop. The former prison became a hardware shop.

During the twentieth century the village library took over from the barber’s and in 2019 the building was extensively renovated and modernised with the upper floor now used as the Community Hub.

The Old School in 1959

The Old School (front right) in 1966 taken from the old railway bridge