Education has always played an important part in the life of the village, from the days of the John Seller’s Charity School, founded in 1779, through to the Primary and High Schools of today. The dame school on Village Road, the private schools at Holly Bank (now Birch Heath Lodge) and High Walls (Miss Dimmer’s School), the Catholic seminary, and more recently the College of Law (now University of Law) at Christleton Hall have all played their part. You can also add the Pre School Play Group & Mother & Toddler Groups from more recent times. It is said that the population of Christleton doubles each day with the influx of pupils and students to its educational establishments. The purpose of this short introduction is to give a brief outline of these facilities to go with the huge archive of photographic material we hold in the Christleton Local History Group Village Archives. There is so much material that I will continue to promote and illustrate these educational archives over several months.

In this first collection I start with the John Seller’s Charity School, which was built in the corner of the present churchyard adjacent to Pepper Street. The minute book pictured, is still in use by the clerk of the Trust, and the first picture of headteacher and boys is believed to have been taken inside that building c 1880. Pictures 5 to 14 illustrate life at the Girls and Infants School established in 1856 which stood at the corner of Quarry Lane and Rowton Bridge Road. Infant Boys were sent up to the Boys School in what is now the Parish Hall when they were six or seven. The Girls School building was added to in 1873 with another wing, and was then called Christleton Girls and Infants School under the control of the Church of England. I took over the leadership of the schools in 1972, and many of the pictures shown illustrate the changes in both Girls and Infants School building and Boys School at the top of the Village (now the Parish Hall) at that time.
I’ve jumped a little here as both schools changed their titles several times since they were first established. I’ll skip all these technical changes for now. The “new” Primary school in Quarry Lane opened in 1974 became a Cheshire County Primary School so changing from the Church of England’s control.

Picture 11 illustrates the Bottom of the Wood an Inn with a schoolroom above it, which was opposite the Girls and Infants Building. The small room at the back of the next picture was a Dame School, the mistress being Catherine Mayers. Her brother George Mayers (illustrated) was Headteacher of the Boys School from 1844 to the late 1880s. He was followed by Sam Earlam and there are several pictures of this era illustrated. The John Seller’s Charity School had by then been moved from the church yard, to the former Ring O Bells Pub site, and was now called the Christleton Boys School. (This building is now the Parish Hall.) Notice the old bell tower on this building, an establishment which was influenced and guided by the leadership of Rector Canon Lionel Garnett. You can see the condition of the old school in August 1972 when I took over the headship, and subsequently some of the changes we implemented to prepare the children, primary aged pupils, boys and girls 7 to 11 years, for life in the “new” Primary School being built on an old farm site in Quarry Lane. This new school building, with an “open plan” design was revolutionary in some senses, certainly bringing the children of Christleton into a new era and style of education. It could accommodate all the children from both schools and my job was to inspire all the staff, children and parents to work together in this wonderful new school.

By good fortune one of the governors who appointed me, Councillor Wilf Mitchell from Whitchurch Road, Christleton, was Mayor of Chester in 1974 and he and Mrs Mitchell kindly came to open the new school building on April 23rd Shakespeare’s Birthday. We were determined to open the school on time despite the fact that we were short of furniture and equipment, as at that time the country was in the grip of the 3 day week and industrial strife.

The staff and children were ready and prepared to move, so we walked from the old schools to the new building for the very special assembly. You can see from the few slides shown what a change of circumstances there had been for everyone, (just compare the school kitchens, slide 22 and 36). We had a wonderful new building, an assembly hall, which was both a meeting place and gymnasium, and 7 super new classrooms. On the very first morning to celebrate the move, a concert was given by County Music Advisor Mr Ron Mallaband & his colleagues. It was a very happy new beginning for education at the primary stage in Christleton and as I write these notes in 2021, can’t believe that its 49years since I was first appointed Headteacher.