MEM22129 - Allerford Museum (Building)

Allerford's former village school retains an extensive thatched roof and mainly dates from 1821. An attached schoolhouse, rendered with a slate roof, dates to 1882. Both now form the West Somerset Rural Life Museum.

Allerford's former village school retains an extensive thatched roof and mainly dates from the early 19th Century. An attached schoolhouse, rendered with a slate roof, dates to c.1880. Both now form the West Somerset Rural Life Museum. [1] The school was established in 1861. It was established by the Aclands. [2] The school is depicted and labelled on the 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey maps in a similar layout to modern MasterMap data. [3,4] Allerford School was built in 1821 by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, the 10th Baronet, opening on 9th July 1821 with about 36 pupils. It originally consisted of a thatched L shaped building with a large, high Schoolroom and an attached two storey house for the head teacher and family. By the end of the 1870s there were too many children for the Schoolroom and so a barn beside the road was demolished and, in 1882, replaced by a new school house for the head teacher. The original school house was then adapted as an infants' room and kitchen. The gravelled boys playground was to the front, with the earth closet toilet block to the right and the girls' areas behind the Infants' Room and the Schoolroom. The walls are of cob on a stone plinth foundation, rendered and limewashed. When the school opened, the children were taught on the lines laid down by the National Society for Education. Truancy was a problem, with children going to follow the stag hunts or being required to help at home. In 1892 the school's headteacher was Mr George Dewey, followed by William Labrun in 1893. By 1897 the school had about 112 pupils. With the managerial changes resulting from the 1902 Education Act, Sir CTD Acland made the school and school house available to the new managers on favourable terms. In 1944, the school was host to the transferring of the Holnicote Estate from the 15th Baronet, Sir Richard Acland, to the National Trust, who then became owners of the school. It became "Voluntary Aided" in 1951. It finally closed in 1981, when it had just 12 pupils. [5]