During my lifetime in the Village I have created a huge archive of photographs of Village Life, especially of the Schools. With the wonderful support of Richard Nicholson we have been publishing articles about the Village for over twenty years. During this time I have written and illustrated many articles about all aspects of village life. In the last three years we have created christleton4, and each month written and illustrated articles about many subjects. One of these monthly titles has been Christleton in the Past which has enabled me to go deeper into the archives, and try to provide a range of illustrations for people to enjoy, and have as a village resource as long as the Internet survives. One of the largest archives is not surprisingly education, so from this month I am exploring the images I have of Primary Education, starting with the first school in Christleton, The John Sellers Charity School 1779. The images for this month are all in black and white, and I’m very fortunate to have acquired some wonderful images over the years.
John Sellers from Littleton was instrumental in getting worthy citizens together to provide a Charity school to serve the needs of poor children from Christleton and Littleton, to be joined six years later by children from Rowton Parish after a bequest of £100 from John Hignett. The Trust Deeds* of the Charity School states that the proceeds from the rent of lands in Christleton were to be used towards instructing “the poor children of Christleton & Litttleton in reading, writing, and arithmetic, including mensuration, gauging and navigation, in spinning, sewing, knitting and other manual work. The Trustees had to supply “books, wheels, or other implements required, and, if the money was available, to apprentice the poor children” We have one photograph that survives of the school, and I’m fairly sure that the teacher is Sam Earlam, who later taught the boys in the “new” Christleton Boys School over the road at what is now the Parish Hall. There are several pictures of the boys outside this building which cost £1200 to build, after the Church authorities purchased the land for £600 from James Parry the proprietor of the “Ring o Bell”s pub which stood on the site.
It seems as though the first John Sellers School also initially catered for girls as implied in the deeds seen above, but by 1850’s as the village population grew, there was a need for a new school building for girls, and this too was built by local fundraising. The first part of the building cost £400 and built in 1856 by local builder Joseph Mayers. The second part was added in 1873 with money from Lucy Anne Ince. The school was then known as the Christleton Girls and Infants School, and later became the Christleton Elementary Girls’ and Infants’ School. It came under Government Control in 1904 The photographs show some aspects of the school life in the 1900’s and then in the 1960’s usually through Class Photographs. There are several photographs of the building in use in 1972, when I took over as Headteacher, and shared my time with the infants in the school in Quarry Lane, and the Primary School in what is now the Parish Hall.
There are also some images of the sports teams, at the time when the Chester Chronicle photographer use to call for local news. It was very difficult to develop physical education as the Hall was in use as two classrooms, and the children played sport in the tiny playgrounds, or up at the Village Playing Fields behind the Pit. The Infants just had a small playground, although the P E teacher at the then Christleton Secondary School, Tony Dromgoole, with the backing of Headteacher Les George, created opportunities for the children in both buildings to go to use the schools playing fields, running track, badminton court and most special of all the swimming pool.
Next month we see the beginnings of the new era of Primary Education with the opening of the Christleton Primary School in Quarry Lane in 1974, catering for all children from 5 to 1 1 years of age.
*The John Sellers Trust still exists, and grants are available to local children and School’s to enhance educational opportunities and travel.
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