Building record MDR23272 - Old School House, Holmesfield

A building attached to the present building served as the village school from c.1831 until 1894. Sometime around 1834 the building standing in 2019 was built as a schoolmaster's house. In 1894 the school moved into a new, larger building immediately to the northwest (where it still remained in 2020). This building continued to have served as the schoolmaster's home, but the school was subsequently demolished. (1) The provision of free school education had a long history in Holmesfield. In 1717 William Mower, a villager, donated a holding to west of the village to the church in his will. Mower specified that the rent from this land was in order that the curate and church warden clould provide an education for 10 poor children. In 1729 Matthew Webster, another villager, donated further land and specified that rents should be used to build a school and employ a teacher [The source is confused as to the the location of the orginal school building, but cartographic evidence indicates that the original school was built off Horsleygate Lane, probably just to the southeast of the Old School House.]. The result was the establishment of a charitable trust to run the Free School. Sometime around 1811 the charitable trust was merged with the National Society for Promoting Religious Eductaion. In 1820, when the Enclosure Act was passed for Holmesfield, the parcel of land on which the Old School House now stands was set aside for the church school. In 1831 the lord of the manor, the Duke of Rutland, had a small school, erected on the western part of the land set aside for the school and c.1834 the school teachers was built attached to it. After (1)