HINTON CHARTERHOUSE SCHOOL
In
1826
the
Revd.
Thomas
Spencer
accepted
the
‘perpetual
curacy’
of
Hinton
Charterhouse.
A
clever
energetic
man,
a
Fellow
of
St
John’s
College,
Cambridge,
he
had
taught
for
a
period
at
his
father’s
commercial
school
in
their
home
town
of
Derby
–
a
town
at
the
forefront
of
manufacturing
and
invention.
He
himself came from a long line of Dissenters although the family were now Wesleyan Methodists.
Hinton
in
1826
was
a
poor
rural
parish
with
about
600
inhabitants,
mainly
agricultural
labourers,
their
families,
six
or
seven
tenant
farmers
and
a
few
small
traders.
Stage
and
mail
coaches
rattled
through
on
rough
and
muddy
roads,
and
the
A36
had
yet
to
be
built.
Mrs.
Day
at
Hinton
House
was
the
main
landowner,
owning
several farms and cottages in the village as well as her house and ground.
Once
installed
and
after
overseeing
the
building
of
his
vicarage,
Spencer
determined
to
build
a
school
and
in
January
1827
preached
a
sermon
to
raise
money
towards
his
objective.
He
considered
the
£7
raised
‘a
handsome
sum’
for
so
poor
a
parish.
However,
the
National
Society
for
Promoting
the
Education
of
the
Poor
added
a
grant
of
£100
and
Spencer
himself
gave
much
of
the
stone
from
his
own
small
quarry
by
the
vicarage.
Mrs.
Day
gave
the
land
which
lay
on
the
north
side
of
Wellow
Lane
where
a
terrace
of
three
cottages
now
stands.
The
school
consisted
of
two
rooms
20ft
by
14ft
and
20ft
by
12ft.
However,
there
had
been
a
hiccup
in
the
enterprise
as
sometime
during
the
building
Mrs.
Day
told
Spencer
she
had
assumed
it
was
to
be
a
Sunday
school
rather
than
a
day
school.
In
a
rather
odd
letter
Spencer
wrote
offering
to
return
the
land
and
build
elsewhere
referring
to
the
benefits
a
school
would
bring
to
‘the
ignorant
and
degraded
population
of
Hinton’!
This
incident
reflects
the
general
attitude
of
some
of
the
more
affluent
classes
who
doubted
the
wisdom
of
educating
the
poor.
However
nothing
came
of
this
and
the
school
was
opened
in
May
1828
with
140
children
-
110
children
from
Hinton
and
the
rest
from
Freshford
and
surrounding
villages.
Mr.
and
Mrs.
Gane
had
been
appointed
as
Master
and
Mistress,
and
the
children
were
to
be
taught
on
the
recognised
Monitorial
System,
whereby
those
more
able
pupils
taught
the
rest.
The
main
subjects
were
reading, writing, sewing, knitting.
The
Master
and
Mistress
were
paid
by
local
subscriptions
which
amounted
to
£16.7.6d
p.a.
To
this
was
added
the
1d
per
week
paid
by
Hinton
children
(with
1/2d
more
by
those
from
other
villages).
Subscribers
were
entitled
to
sponsor
a
free
place
for
a
child
for
every
10/-
subscribed.
Some
years
later
when
the
numbers
had
dropped
to
a
more
manageable
95,
Spencer
advertised
that
the
children
would
knit
stockings
for
those
who
provided
the
yarn,
at
a
charge
of
9d
for
men’s
and
7d
for
women’s,
half
of
this
going
to
the
Mistress
and
half
to
the
child.
This
first
National
School
continued
in
much
the
same
way
until
Thomas
Spencer
left
the
village
in 1847.
In
1848
it
became
the
boys’
school,
with
the
girls
moving
to
an
adapted
malt
house
near
the
church.
In
1860
the
girls’
school
was
demolished
and
a
new
school
for
both
boys
and
girls
was
erected
and
remained
in
use
until it was finally closed in 1982.
