Listed Building record MDR14882 - School, Church of England Primary School, North Street, Cromford

School, Church of England Primary School, North Street, Cromford, early C19 Cromford boys and girls schools on North Street were built in 1832. (1) From the National Heritage List for Endland: '1. NORTH STREET 1390 CROMFORD Church of England School SK 2956 1/79 II GV 2. Early C19. 2 wings set at right-angles. Built of stone with hipped slate roofs. Each block has 2 semi-circular headed windows, altered by lowering of sills and addition of modern lights, and a plain doorway, that on north side with semi-circular head and wheel fanlight. Moulded eaves; stone stacks. Grade II for group value. The Arkwright Houses, Nos 1 to 11 (consec) Church of England School Nos 1 & 2 (School House) & The Arkwright Houses, Nos 14 to 29 (consec) form a group. Listing NGR: SK2952056719'. (2) The school Richard Arkwright junior opened in 1832 remains in use 180 years later, in an extended form. It was built in anticipation of the provisions of the forthcoming factory legislation. The 1833 Act, in addition to its regulation of the hours of work for young people in cotton mills and the prohibition of the employment of children under 9, authorised factory inspectors to 'establish or procure the establishment' of factory schools, though it did not suggest how this might be done. It was left to enlightened employers to take up the challenge of creating a system that combined mill work with effective exposure to education, however limited that might be. In Cromford it was three hours a day. It is evident from the inspection of the Cromford schools made in about 1837 that Arkwright adopted what was first known as the Relay System, and later the Half Time System, whereby the children divided each working day between the mill and the school. The inspector who visited the cotton mills in Cromford in 1839 noted that the school was established about five years previously. The inspector's report describes a boys' school under the charge of a master and a girls' school under a mistress, both having the assistance of one principal monitor and one to each class. 40 boys and 28 girls attended in two sets; three hours each. The school was also open in the evenings for young people who worked at the mill and on Sundays, when attendance was very large. The report states that factory children did not pay for their schooling. Other children of the neighbourhood were admitted on payment of twopence per week, Messr Arkwright paying all the remaining expenses. See source for more details. (3) The school on North Street was extended in 1893. (4)