MEM25085 - Cutcombe Church of England First School, Wheddon Cross (Building)

A school is marked on the 25 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map for Cutcombe at SS 9250 3886. [1] Cutcombe Church of England First School is shown and labelled on the 2021 MasterMap data. The school has increased in size from the late 19th Century. [2] The village school at Wheddon Cross was built in 1875. In the late 1990s or early 2000s there were about 30 pupils aged up to 9 years old, but there were well over 100 pupils of all ages in the early 1900s. [3] The head of the school in 1877 was Mr John Hayes. Mrs Hayes helped with the Infants and with the sewing. In 1896, their son Henry became a teacher there, and their daughter Hilda began as a monitoress. Mr Hayes died, and his wife took over from 1896 to 1899, followed by Henry. Hilda then took over responsibility for Infants, then became an Assistant teacher in 1901. Henry retired in 1926 due to ill health and Hilda also retired due to a deterioration in her eye sight. In 1902, lessons included reading, writing, arithmetic, stories, dictation, modelling, recitation, games, occup[ations, reproduction, drill, needlework, singing and "observation". Cutcombe was the highest school in Somerset county and suffered from wet weather, strong winds and smokey fires in the winter, with very low temperatures regularly recorded. In 1936 the buildings were closed for heating repairs, but these were not fully resolved until 1939. Cutcombe joined the Rural Libraries Scheme in 1927. A school in Cutcombe was sponsored in 1714 by Richard Ellsworth. In 1820 a school was opened. The present school was built in 1875 for 200 pupils. [4]