In 1971 Wilstone School closed and since then the children have been transported daily to the new and modern school at Long Marston. July 16th was the day set for the closing and many old inhabitants were critical of the change. It was the end of an era, not only because of the loss of our village centre piece, but also the passing of a grand old building that had served the community well since its erection one hundred and twenty years ago.
The school came into being as a result of an Act passed in the 5th year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria entitled "An Act to afford further facilities for the conveyance and endowment of sites for schools. Grants were made available to assist in the buying of land and in the building of schools for the education of the poor."
This Act no doubt influenced the Lord of the Manor, Mr William Kay of Tring, to offer this small piece of land in 1838. Unfortunately by 1847 this gentleman had passed on but his executors carried out his instructions and, to quote the conveyance document:
| "Do hereby in consideration of £11 sterling to us paid, grant and convey to the Archdeacon of St Albans, the Rector of Northchurch, and the Perpetual Curate of Tring and their respective successors all that small piece of land situate in the hamlet of Wilstone containing one rood and seven perches or thereabouts belonging to Tring Park estate late the said Testator but isolated therefrom." |
More more legal jargon, but this document goes on to state that these gentlemen or their successors should hold the land:
| "Upon trust to permit the said premises and all buildings thereon erected, or to be erected to be for ever hereafter appropriated and used as a school for the education of children and adults or children only of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the Parish of Tring aforesaid and for no other purpose, which said school shall always be in the union and conducted upon the principles and in furtherance of the ends and designs of the Incorporated National Society for promoting education of the poor in the principles of the established Church." |
And so in 1848 this National School, grant-aided by the Church of England, and helped by many local contributors, opened its doors. Unfortunately records of these early days have not so far been traced and it is not until 1864 when the official register commenced that a reasonable history can be obtained. This intake register was still in use at the break-up of the school in 1971 and recorded that between 1864 and 1971 1,394 children had crossed its threshold. These children came from The White House (site of the first canal pumping station on the Wendover Arm), from Wilstone Green, Tring Ford, Gubblecote, Puttenham Lock, Drayton Beauchamp and Long Marston. School days started when the infants were two years old and the majority left at 12 years. Occasionally a girl is recorded staying until she was 14 years, and one even 15 years in 1864. Maybe she assisted the school mistress with the very young.
But illness and the weather made a great difference to the numbers attending. Many had no clothing suitable for those hard winters and "left for the winter" appears many times. 1875 stands out as a very bad year for illness and many joined and left at this time. The register remarks were "Sores in the head". One wonders just what this could have been. No unnecessary words were used either; a poor mite who died ended his attendance sheet with "dead", and in those early days three boys "drowned" but nothing more.
Discharge for misconduct also had its victims; and one Charles Hopkins only stayed a week. One wonders what happened to those young tearaways. Hopkins, Blood, Lyon, Greening, Goodson, Rose and a host of other names have now left our area, but it is interesting to find that this first register had a number of Batemans, Proctors, Edwards, Cartwrights and Reeves - families that have lived in and around the village for centuries.
A Joseph Collier had previously attended Dame School (this was a privately run establishment standing in Deans Lane, a half-timbered, thatched building), and a number left at 11 years having obtained labour certificates. As mentioned previously, old residents recalled how in 1900 the playground was more mud than turf and how Mr Greening, who at this time was living at Chapel End Farm, took pity on the children, and paid for the ground to be made up and an iron fence erected around the school buildings.
It is interesting to find William Greening's name on the list of the first school management committee in 1847, especially after the 1841 census returns only refer to him as a farm labourer. By 1847 however he was classed as Farmer of Wilstone and took his place with William Jenney Esq of Drayton Lodge Bucks, Rev James Williams, Tring Park, Richard Smith Kay Esq, Receivers to the Tring Park Estate, Robert Nixon Esq of Aylesbury Bucks, George Lacton Faithfull Esq, Tring and Richard Dewsbury Esq. From the conveyance we read:
| "They shall continue to be members of such committee so long as they continue to be members of the Church of England and any vacancy which may occur in the number of persons last mentioned and their successors by death resignation incapacity shall be filled up by election of a person or persons being members of the Church of England and resident or having a beneficial interest to the extent of a life estate at the least in real property situated in the said Parish." |
As for the school, the whole block, including the school house, was built as one unit and, apart from new toilets and a bathroom for the house, and of course the changeover from oil lamps and coal fires, the building had remained unchanged. Internally some alterations were made, for at one time there were three classrooms and a gallery to seat the nursery class but, at the time of closure, only two classrooms existed, infants and juniors.
Built to accommodate 100 children, the numbers over the years averaged around 60 but this fluctuated and reflected major trends and events. One sees a vast difference in the cost of maintaining this school and today's expenditure. Taking 1899 the income and expenditure:
| INCOME | £ s d | EXPENDITURE | £ s d | |
| Fee Grant | 42. 6. 6 | Teacher | 60. 0. 0 | |
| Education Grant | 30. 0. 0 | Additional Teachers | 21. 5. 0 | |
| Aid Grant | 15. 0. 0 | Apparatus, Furniture, | ||
| Voluntary Contributions | 101. 8. 6 | Books & Stationery, | 14. 8. 3 | |
| Domestic Science and Arts | 1.12. 6 | Fuel,Light & Heating | 10.16. 4 | |
| Sale of Work and Use of Room | 4.16.11 | Repairs | 4. 2. 9 | |
| Rates, Taxes & Insurance | 14.10 | |||
| Surplus | 83. 7. 3 | |||
| _________ | _________ | |||
| £195. 4. 5 | £195. 4. 5 |
A great effort was made during the 1914-1918 conflict and Wilstone school children collected 250 lbs of blackberries to help with the food rations. During those war years soldiers were billeted in most of the village houses, the small cottage next to the Post Office Stores was a guard room, the sentries patrolling from Rose Lane down to the present houses below the shop. But the most noticeable change came in 1940 when London evacuees swelled the village population, and every available space was taken up for the extra teaching and the housing of these infants.
In 1948 the school was taken over by the Hertfordshire County Council from the Church of England and in 1956 school meals, which had been served in the Parish Room, were discontinued making this one of the very few schools in the county where all the children went home at lunch time.
It must be mentioned that just before the second world war, under Miss Macdonald, the craft of spinning and weaving flourished, several national newspapers carrying articles and photographs at this time. The old school room had been well used however over the previous 100 years for, before the Parish Room was built in 1875 and St Cross in 1877, this was the main meeting place for village activities and church services were held here until 1877.
And so, on Sunday 18 July 1971, a service of thanksgiving was held at St Cross. The church was packed for this memorable occasion, extra chairs being needed to seat the congregation. The afternoon ended with tea and an exhibition of old photographs and documents in the new Village Hall, which opened for the first time to the public.
But the sound of the school bell had gone: gone also were the cries of the children playing in the school yard. As for the school building, this remained empty until August 1974, when the builders moved in and the whole site was cleared during September to make way for the present block of flats. One wonders what those benevolent old gentlemen, Mr William Kay, the Archdeacon of St Albans, the Rector of Northchurch and the Perpetual Curate of Tring, would have thought of such a change.