Horsley Through Time
Timeline Horsley Headteachers1863 Mr George Smith
1897 Mr Frank Arnold 1900 Mr Edward Sterry 1927 Mr Dudley Mann 1930 Mr Arthur Harrison 1934 MR John Cox 1944 Mr Harry Crittenden 1944 Mr Sidney Kay 1961 Miss J Willis 1968 Miss B Shay 1969 Mrs Peberdy !978 Mr R Gillingham 1979 Mr Andrew Kennet 1982 Mrs Jean Embleton 1992 Mr John Mapstone 1997 Mr Martin Fry TBC 2015 Mrs Brind (acting) TBC Mr David Williams 2016-Present Mr Gary Price |
Timeline of School Building1998 Redesign of School
2001 New Link Building TBC Sports funding for sports surface TBC Wooden Kingdom built TBC EYFS play area built 2022 TBC
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A Short History of Horsley School
Elizabeth I was near the end of her reign when the first unlicensed schoolmaster was noted in Horsley parish records in 1602, but George II was on the throne when the school concerned us was founded 150 years later.
Edward Webb of Nailsworth (then in the parish of Horsley) had left £200 in his will in 1744 “for the poor children to be taught to read, write, cast accounts and learn the catechism.” In 1752 his sister Elizabeth Castleman, wife of one of the four trustees appointed by Webb, gave another £200 to buy land to provide revenue from rents, and a free school was set up. A master, who had to be in communion with the established church, was appointed.
Other legacies and gifts from local worthies continued to provide money or land for the benefit of the school. For example, Anne Wight, a widow of Tetbury, left the school £100 in 1788, and the following year Sarah Wilbraham left £30. Henry Stephens, then lord of the manor, had also bequeathed an acre of land at Tickmore End, where the trust funds supported a school for 25 pupils.
We don’t know what the school looked like at this time, but records of the period suggest that it would have been one room in an old stone house with bare walls and minimal furniture. In any event, the Tickmore End site was a long way from the village, and by 1818 the buildings were becoming dilapidated.
More bequests to the trust, including an acre of land from Henry Sheppard in 1817 and £90 from his sister-in-law Mary Frost two years later, were added to other subscriptions and new grants from the National Society and the Gloucester Diocesan society, and a new larger school was built on the unconsecrated part of the churchyard and opened on what must have been roughly its present site in 1824.
The new school, a stone building with adjoining land “bounded on the south and east by the churchyard, on the north by the Stroud-Bristol turnpike road and the west by the vicar’s premises,” could take 100 pupils and had one room for boys and one for girls. Known then as the Horsley Free School, although charges were made for children taught to write on paper, the school soon had 120 pupils.
In 1859 Edward Wilbraham left more land, buildings and money to the trustees for the benefit of the school. The parties to the 1855 trust deed, by which the school was governed, were the Stroud Union, the Minister, churchwardens and overseers of Horsley. Other gifts, notably from the Rev. W.H. Bathurst of Lydney Park in 1868, made it possible to start an infants’ section and provide a master’s house and boys’ playground on land purchased from Thomas Henry Bird for £117.10s. With the Rev N. Cornford acting for the trustees. The schoolmaster took the house from March 1870 at a rent of £4 per annum, and by 1881 there were over 400 pupils in the two school buildings.
We don’t have many records of what was happening in Horsley School during this time, but we do know that the 18th century was the golden age of philanthropy - both personal and social - and that this was one of the factors behind the growth of the charity schools, the first national movement of popular education.
The 16th century saw the first grammar schools. Now, at a time of profound changes in population and economy, it was the turn of elementary education for the deserving poor - and “the poor” equalled the mass of the people. The aims were both social and religious: to counter not only original sin but the effects of poverty; to combat the crime wave, which was one of its results; and to teach the poor that they should accept their inferior position as part of the divine plan:
“God bless the squire and his relations
And keep us in our proper stations.”
Particular attention had to be paid to the catechism and manners and behaviour.
Reading and writing were taught so that the scriptures could be read, together with arithmetic and trade skills to fit them for work or apprenticeships, with knitting and spinning for the girls, so that they should not become a burden on the parish ratepayers. Some schools put the children to work “to husbandry and some to clothing” and gave them decent clothes that labelled them as “charity children.”
The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge took much of the credit for the charity school movement, and it was the Rev William Johns of Stroudwater, who had joined the SPCK in 1701 and established the Charity Schools Society, who started a chain of schools in the scattered villages of the Stroud Valleys. “Instead of lamenting the failure of the children to come to the schools, Mr Johns took the schools to the children.”
But the Horsley Free School does not seem to have been one of them (and has indeed outlasted them all). The Nonconformists and Dissenters, who were strong in the area, were also active in the field and fact much of the funding for the charity schools came from what the historian of the movement, M.G. Jones, called “the middling classes.” This is what happened in Horsley.
The Stroud valleys were a vital centre of the wool and woollen cloth industry at the time, and Gloucestershire - and Horsley itself - could provide the gentry, clergy and clothiers who were typical subscribers to the endowed charity schools. As to the Nonconformists, a Puritan minister called Henry Stubbs had been ejected from his living in Dursley back in 1662 but was allowed by the Bishop of Gloucester conditionally to hold “the poor and long-vacated living of Horsley.”
A fervent preacher, he lived austerely, spent most of his time working among the young of the parish, and left £50 to teach poor children to read and buy bibles and primers when he died in 1678. The bequest was recorded in the church warden’s register, but we don’t know if it ever got to Horsley school.
In any event, by 1870, a new Act had introduced a national education system and, with numbers rising, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate suggested that the Horsley schools become infants’ only. A new classroom was added instead, and the managers rejected a proposal to close both schools and build a new one, tried and failed to buy land adjoining the playground from a Mr Mason in 1884 and finally accepted the HMI demand for a new school.
In 1894, pupils and staff moved into the old Wesleyan School building in Downend while rebuilding went on - carried out by Mr Cox of Nailsworth for £590 - until they could move back to the old site a year later. There were 64 boys, 67 girls and 54 infants, but the moves severely hit attendance.
In 1912, a third classroom was added: “at the end nearest the village square” - providing space for 225 pupils, including infants. The school had become known as The National Endowed (Free) School, but in 1910 - having become affiliated to the Gloucester Diocesan Association of Church Schools in 1897 - changed its name again to Horsley C. of E. school. Aided status was granted in 1953. In 1998, the school was redesigned to provide a fourth classroom, and more work in 2000-2001 linked the two buildings and the toilet block. Now it is the playground’s turn for major structural change.
Patricia Rowan
Edward Webb of Nailsworth (then in the parish of Horsley) had left £200 in his will in 1744 “for the poor children to be taught to read, write, cast accounts and learn the catechism.” In 1752 his sister Elizabeth Castleman, wife of one of the four trustees appointed by Webb, gave another £200 to buy land to provide revenue from rents, and a free school was set up. A master, who had to be in communion with the established church, was appointed.
Other legacies and gifts from local worthies continued to provide money or land for the benefit of the school. For example, Anne Wight, a widow of Tetbury, left the school £100 in 1788, and the following year Sarah Wilbraham left £30. Henry Stephens, then lord of the manor, had also bequeathed an acre of land at Tickmore End, where the trust funds supported a school for 25 pupils.
We don’t know what the school looked like at this time, but records of the period suggest that it would have been one room in an old stone house with bare walls and minimal furniture. In any event, the Tickmore End site was a long way from the village, and by 1818 the buildings were becoming dilapidated.
More bequests to the trust, including an acre of land from Henry Sheppard in 1817 and £90 from his sister-in-law Mary Frost two years later, were added to other subscriptions and new grants from the National Society and the Gloucester Diocesan society, and a new larger school was built on the unconsecrated part of the churchyard and opened on what must have been roughly its present site in 1824.
The new school, a stone building with adjoining land “bounded on the south and east by the churchyard, on the north by the Stroud-Bristol turnpike road and the west by the vicar’s premises,” could take 100 pupils and had one room for boys and one for girls. Known then as the Horsley Free School, although charges were made for children taught to write on paper, the school soon had 120 pupils.
In 1859 Edward Wilbraham left more land, buildings and money to the trustees for the benefit of the school. The parties to the 1855 trust deed, by which the school was governed, were the Stroud Union, the Minister, churchwardens and overseers of Horsley. Other gifts, notably from the Rev. W.H. Bathurst of Lydney Park in 1868, made it possible to start an infants’ section and provide a master’s house and boys’ playground on land purchased from Thomas Henry Bird for £117.10s. With the Rev N. Cornford acting for the trustees. The schoolmaster took the house from March 1870 at a rent of £4 per annum, and by 1881 there were over 400 pupils in the two school buildings.
We don’t have many records of what was happening in Horsley School during this time, but we do know that the 18th century was the golden age of philanthropy - both personal and social - and that this was one of the factors behind the growth of the charity schools, the first national movement of popular education.
The 16th century saw the first grammar schools. Now, at a time of profound changes in population and economy, it was the turn of elementary education for the deserving poor - and “the poor” equalled the mass of the people. The aims were both social and religious: to counter not only original sin but the effects of poverty; to combat the crime wave, which was one of its results; and to teach the poor that they should accept their inferior position as part of the divine plan:
“God bless the squire and his relations
And keep us in our proper stations.”
Particular attention had to be paid to the catechism and manners and behaviour.
Reading and writing were taught so that the scriptures could be read, together with arithmetic and trade skills to fit them for work or apprenticeships, with knitting and spinning for the girls, so that they should not become a burden on the parish ratepayers. Some schools put the children to work “to husbandry and some to clothing” and gave them decent clothes that labelled them as “charity children.”
The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge took much of the credit for the charity school movement, and it was the Rev William Johns of Stroudwater, who had joined the SPCK in 1701 and established the Charity Schools Society, who started a chain of schools in the scattered villages of the Stroud Valleys. “Instead of lamenting the failure of the children to come to the schools, Mr Johns took the schools to the children.”
But the Horsley Free School does not seem to have been one of them (and has indeed outlasted them all). The Nonconformists and Dissenters, who were strong in the area, were also active in the field and fact much of the funding for the charity schools came from what the historian of the movement, M.G. Jones, called “the middling classes.” This is what happened in Horsley.
The Stroud valleys were a vital centre of the wool and woollen cloth industry at the time, and Gloucestershire - and Horsley itself - could provide the gentry, clergy and clothiers who were typical subscribers to the endowed charity schools. As to the Nonconformists, a Puritan minister called Henry Stubbs had been ejected from his living in Dursley back in 1662 but was allowed by the Bishop of Gloucester conditionally to hold “the poor and long-vacated living of Horsley.”
A fervent preacher, he lived austerely, spent most of his time working among the young of the parish, and left £50 to teach poor children to read and buy bibles and primers when he died in 1678. The bequest was recorded in the church warden’s register, but we don’t know if it ever got to Horsley school.
In any event, by 1870, a new Act had introduced a national education system and, with numbers rising, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate suggested that the Horsley schools become infants’ only. A new classroom was added instead, and the managers rejected a proposal to close both schools and build a new one, tried and failed to buy land adjoining the playground from a Mr Mason in 1884 and finally accepted the HMI demand for a new school.
In 1894, pupils and staff moved into the old Wesleyan School building in Downend while rebuilding went on - carried out by Mr Cox of Nailsworth for £590 - until they could move back to the old site a year later. There were 64 boys, 67 girls and 54 infants, but the moves severely hit attendance.
In 1912, a third classroom was added: “at the end nearest the village square” - providing space for 225 pupils, including infants. The school had become known as The National Endowed (Free) School, but in 1910 - having become affiliated to the Gloucester Diocesan Association of Church Schools in 1897 - changed its name again to Horsley C. of E. school. Aided status was granted in 1953. In 1998, the school was redesigned to provide a fourth classroom, and more work in 2000-2001 linked the two buildings and the toilet block. Now it is the playground’s turn for major structural change.
Patricia Rowan
