Some notes taken from an article in a Parish Magazine of the mid 1960's by Tom Beastall, about the New Road and the old National School.

In the Duchy of Lancaster records, dated 11th August 1548, the following passage occurs:-
''A Grammer Scole hathe beene heretofore continually kept in the parish of Tithehall (Tickhall in the margin) in the said Countye of Yorke with the revenues of the Chantry of St. Elyn founded within the Church there and the Scolemaster there hathe for his wages yearly 4li 18s. 11d. which Scole is very meet and necessary to continue.''

The Charity Commisioners' Report of 1895 from which this extract is taken adds that the Chantry of St. Helen, in the Church of Tickhill, was founded in 1348, but that the date on which the chantry priest was charged with the duty of keeping a grammar school has not come to light.

In 1548 it was decreed that the school should continue and for no apparent reason the schoolmaster's wages were reduced by 5s. 7d. yearly. Where this building was sited is open to speculation and we have to wait almost 250 years for news of the next development. About 1780 a new school and school-house were built upon the ''waste'' land adjoining the church yard.

The cost of the school and where the money came from are not mentioned by the Charity Commissioners, but it seems possible that the Duchy of Lancaster may have been responsible. The Duchy certainly contributed to its upkeep subsequently, as will be seen.

We know more about the school-house, however, from a memorandum dated March 31st. 1790, in the Parish Bequest Book signed by the Revd. C, Alderson, who was the Vicar from 1774 to 1784. This says:
''.........The Revd. C, Alderson when Vicar perceiving the great inconvenience arising to the Schoolmaster through want of a suitable habitation did build a new House adjoining to and partaking of the said School which cost the sum of eightyone pounds five shilling and five pence......''
The money was provided as follows:
One third of Henry Burns benefaction £20-0-0
Francis Foljambe's benefaction £12-12-0
John Hall's benefaction £1-0-0
Rev. C. Alderson's benefaction £47-12-5

Some forty years later, in 1821, the school was enlarged to suit the purposes of a National School which was then established for boys and girls and was attended by 60 boys and 40 girls. It was assisted by local subscriptions, the rent of Stonebridge Close(part of the Jane Farmery charity) the Robert Damm Bequest, an annual payment by the Duchy of Lancaster and 1 and a half pence per week paid by the parents of each scholar.
The ancient parish (which included Stancil, Wellingley and Wilsic ) and market town of Tickhill at the time, contained three hundred and eighty-seven houses and eighteen and thirty inhabitants; a number that stayed practically the same for the next hundred years. It was another forty years before the school was bursting at the seams, although pressure was relieved in 1840 when the Infants' School was founded at the instance of the Foljambe family.

By deed dated 16th June 1840, George Savile Foljambe conveyed to the Earl of Galway, Thomas Walker, Richard Lumley, Francis Foljambe and the Rev. E.H. Brooksbank, trustees, a piece of ground in Tickhill with a newly erected dwelling-house and a new school house '' lately the tithe-barn,'' for use as a school upon National Society trusts. It survived almost a hundred and thirty years. Too long some may have thought and considerably longer than its parent establishment, but progress in school building is by no means confined to the latter half of the twentieth century and it was relatively less costly in the times we are considering. Thus it was in 1864 that, by deed of grant inrolled in Chancery on 5th April, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster conveyed under the School Sites Acts. to the Vicar and Churchwardens and their successors 2,400 square yards for the erection of a new National School. [This refers to the building that was standing in St. Mary's Road , which at the time of Tom Beastalls writing, in the mid 1960's, was about to be superseded by yet another new school. ]

The year following the conveyance of land, by an order of the Chantry Commissioners, this site and the buildings on it were invested in the Official Trustee of Charity Lands and in 1865 a scheme was established for the management of the school upon the trusts of the National Society under a committee with the Vicar as chairman. [This arrangement, with the subsequent addition of the Local Authority's representatives survived into the 1960s].

The old school on the waste land was demolished about this time and the site was taken into the churchyard.

(For those mystified by pre-decimal currency, 5s = 5 shillings = 25p; 5d = 5 old pence = 2p (approx); thus £1 . 5s . 5d = £1.27p)

Below are a number of photographs:- 

A view of the Old National School in a corner of the Churchyard, Tickhill

National School in St Mary’s Road, Tickhill
Photo courtesy of Ken Kimberley and R Cornish

A view from the tower of St Mary’s Church showing the National School and Head Master’s House
Photo Courtesy of Ken Kimberley and R. Cornish