Coleford Schools circa 1911 -1915 (General)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Thursday, August 12, 2010, 21:13 (5222 days ago) @ helenium235

To mark the Golden Jubilee of P. M. Procter's school and chapel at Berry Hill (fn. 4) W. H. Taylor, minister of Christ Church, (fn. 5) built a National school for the Lane End district, east of Coleford. The district had a day school in a Baptist chapel at Mitcheldean Lane End in 1851 (fn. 6) and one or two small dame schools in 1862. Known as the Forest Church Jubilee school, the National school with its adjacent schoolhouse was at Broadwell Lane End and was paid for by subscriptions and grants. It opened in 1864 with 70 pupils, including infants, and was enlarged by Taylor several times. (fn. 7) In 1889 it had 270 places and an average attendance of 230 in junior mixed and infants' departments or schools, (fn. 8) which in 1890, when the Lane End district became part of Coleford for ecclesiastical purposes, were renamed Coleford Lane End National schools. (fn. 9) The building was enlarged further in 1893 and 1904 (fn. 10) but was overcrowded in 1910, when the schools' average attendance was 340. (fn. 11) In 1914 the older children were transferred to a new school at Five Acres. (fn. 12) Coleford Lane End schools, which the local education authority took over in 1926, (fn. 13) had a total average attendance of 261 in 1938. (fn. 14) Renamed Broadwell Lane End schools in 1954, (fn. 15) they later moved to new buildings at Coalway Lane End, just within Coleford, the infants being transferred in 1966 (fn. 16) and the juniors in 1977, (fn. 17) to become Coalway Infants' and Coalway Junior schools. In 1992 they had 148 and 218 children on their respective rolls. (fn. 18)

In 1813 P. M. Procter opened a day school on the National plan at Berry hill. For a year or so it used his school-chapel, (fn. 19) for the building of which the Treasury and the National Society made grants, and then it moved to a new room to the north, the original building being enlarged to form the chapel consecrated under the name of Christ Church in 1816. The new school had boys' and girls' departments. It received an annual grant from the Crown and depended principally on voluntary contributions. (fn. 20) The school, under the control of successive ministers of Christ Church, (fn. 21) taught 115 children in 1847. (fn. 22) It admitted infants by 1852 when, known as Christ Church C. of E. Mixed school, it received little financial support locally. Over half of its income came from a grant of the Commissioners of Woods, acting for the Crown, and the rest from pence, a few subscriptions, and the minister's share of a trust fund intended for repairing his church. (fn. 23) W. H. Taylor, perpetual curate 1852-83, (fn. 24) made several additions to the school and in 1856 built a schoolhouse some way to the south-west. (fn. 25) There was a separate infants' school at Berry Hill in 1870. (fn. 26) In 1889 the National school had 260 places and an average attendance of 195 in junior mixed and infants' departments. (fn. 27) To meet the requirements of the Board of Education the Revd. Christopher Barnes in 1897 added more rooms and converted some outbuildings of his adjacent parsonage for school use. (fn. 28) The school was overcrowded in 1910 when the average attendance was 303, (fn. 29) and in 1914 the older children were transferred to a new school at Five Acres. (fn. 30) Christ Church school, which became so neglected that the local education authority condemned its buildings, was handed over to the authority in 1936 (fn. 31) and had an average attendance of 195 in 1938. (fn. 32) In 1954 it moved to a new building in Nine Wells Road and was renamed Berry Hill County Primary school. (fn. 33) In 1992 it had 261 children on its roll (fn. 34) and the original schoolrooms north of Christ Church were used for church purposes and a nursery school.

Berry Hill Secondary school was originally Five Acres Council school, opened in 1914 to take older children from local elementary schools. It had new buildings at Five Acres with places for 260 pupils (fn. 63) and average attendances of 215 in 1922 and 146 in 1938. (fn. 64) It became a secondary modern school under the 1944 Act (fn. 65) and, having been renamed in 1946, (fn. 66) its catchment area was widened in 1966 on the closure of Coleford secondary modern school. (fn. 67) The group of school buildings was enlarged by the construction, on the east side of the site, of the Royal Forest of Dean Grammar school, opened in 1968 to replace grammar schools at Cinderford and Coleford. (fn. 68) In 1980 the secondary modern school had 933 pupils on its roll and the grammar school, which admitted children from the secondary modern school and from Double View school to its sixth form, had 770. (fn. 69) The secondary modem and grammar schools at Five Acres were amalgamated in 1985 to form a comprehensive school for children up to 16 years (fn. 70) and older children subsequently attended the Royal Forest of Dean College. (fn. 71) The comprehensive school, named Lakers school, had 794 pupils on its roll in 1992. (fn. 72)
From: 'Forest of Dean: Education', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 405-413. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23274 Date accessed: 12 August 2010.

Higher up at Cinder Hill, on the road to High Nash, Forest (formerly Tump) House was acquired by the metallurgist David Mushet in 1810 and became a hotel in the mid 20th century. (fn. 4) East of the town there were a few cottages on the Coalway road at Lord's Hill by 1777 (fn. 5) and a school and a parsonage house were built there in the late 1830s. (fn. 6) Further along the road a large building was erected in 1875 for Bell's Grammar school. (fn. 7)

In the early 1970s the former Bell's Grammar school at Lord's Hill was converted as a country club and, in 1973, the adjoining farmland at Edenwall was laid out as a golf course. (fn. 65) In 1994 another golf club had a new course in the north-east of Coleford, extending from the Mitcheldean road to Five Acres.

From: 'Coleford', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 117-138. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23255 Date accessed: 12 August 2010.

--
Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>