Stathern Primary School
It is believed that formal schooling started at Stathern when the Revd. Andrew Perne was the rector in the very early 1700s. The Lady Chapel in St Guthlac’s Church (now the vestry) was converted into a school room and a door cut into the north wall for access (now filled in). A fire place and chimney was built against the east wall of the room, but no date can be ascribed to this. It seems that arches to the nave and chancel must also have been filled in, separating the room from the main body of the church. In the records that is virtually no mention of this room. An Archdeacon’s Visitation Report of xxx said that the children were soiling the churchyard and either offices (ie toilets) had to be provided or a separate school built
The Benefactions Board in the church mentions benefactions to benefit the early school, viz:
It would appear that eventually the Archdeacon’s words were complied with. There is a date inscribed on a stone above the original school porch of 1845 so that is probably when the new school was opened on land in Water Lane which is close to the church. This land was probably originally glebe land, owned by the church, because the current adjacent playpark is glebe land, owned by the diocese.
The north window sill in the vestry has names carved on it, probably of students in the early 1700s, two of which are reproduced here:
The name ‘Thomas Spit….house’ 1719
is engraved, and also ‘William’ underneath.
There is no record of a Thomas Spittlehouse
having been born, married or died in Stathern
This name is John Goodwin, written in 1707
when he was 13. He was born in 1694, the
second child of John and Mary Goodwin
(nee Caunt) who were married in 1690.
They had 11 children in total.
The school has records going back to 1845 and was referred to as the Stathern Board School in the early days. The school website has a number of early photographs of groups of school children which can be seen here:
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