Church Schools |
|
 |
At the start of Queen Victoria's reign only the children of the well off went to school and in poor families even very young children did some kind of work. The only education most children got was Sunday School at church each Sunday. Here they would be taught how to read and write, as well as learning about the Bible and the Christian Faith. In Somerset the Sunday School movement was started by Hannah More who opened a Sunday School in Cheddar in 1789. As Parliament gradually cut the hours which younger children had to work, churches started to provide day schools for children to go to during the week. |
|
In the classroom |
|
|
Most were Church of England Schools and were usually built near the parish church. |
|
 |
 |
|
In many towns and villages today you will find Victorian schools built close to the parish church, as here, in Norton St. Philip. |
|
|
In 1870 Parliament passed an Education Act and provided schools where the churches had not been able to. Today a quarter of English schools are Church Schools. |
|
 |
Down With Drink! |