Schools - 1
The Seascale Day Schools
There were church schools on two sites within the parish of Seascale prior to the school built in 1873.This building still exists today on Hallsenna Road.
These early sites were :
1. Alongside the “School Tarn”. This was situated on the lonning from Cross Lane’s crossroads to Panope, until it was filled-in, and latterly it has been used as the illegal village refuse dump and as an allotment. This school was built about 1830 and it is said that the school suffered from subsidence problems. The Master lived close by in a property called Tarn howe and at this time it was Matthew Sherwen (1821-1875) who was a member of the Sherwen of Seascale Howe family. Its position is shown in field 1206 between the lonning & the site of the tarn on the 1867 Ordnance Survey Map. The school was roughly 16 feet square in size and its foundations are just still visible. The school tarn was formerly a public watering place for animals etc at the side of an important thoroughfare.
2. Before School Tarn establishment the school was to be found on the common land near the site of Cringley Well on the lonning between Croft Head and Seascale How farms. This school was in place, when in 1812 the tithes of the whole parish were commuted and the common lands divided, which resulted in the school being pulled down, and about 1830 the school near the Tarn was built.
When the responsibility for education passed from the individual parishes to the emerging local civil administrations, there was a rationalisation in the number & quality of schools available for the children of this country. This was necessary to ensure that all the relevant standards set by the government of the day within the new Elementary Education Act of 1870 could be met. This was followed by Lord Sandons Education Act of 1877 which laid down the educational standards needed. These Acts of Parliament led to the 1873 building on Hallsenna Road.
SEASCALE CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL - 1874 to 1951
Seascale Day School, situated today on Hallsenna Road but then on the old Gosforth Road, opened on the 21 March 1873 at a cost of £700 and included a residence for the teacher. In 1876 the Headmaster was Mr.Henry Gunson and was succeeded in 1883 by Mr.Birch then Mr.H.Ragget who had 19 scholars. On 21st.June 1886, Mr.John Henry Booth became Headmaster and he remained for 40 years. The school was extended in 1899 with the addition of an extra classroom, making a total of two, when its capacity was increased to 86 pupils.
The School log books still exist for this school. These books allow a glimpse of school life from Victorian to Modern times. Reading the book covering the first 25 years you observe:-
That the attendance fell during the summer months, both before and after the harvest holiday, when children were kept at home to help with either the work on the farms or the seasonal seaside visitors. Bad weather affected attendance - either high winds, heavy rain or snow.
The Day trips in to Seascale, which involved large numbers of visitors, particularly when they included children such as Sunday School Trips, caused absenteeism amongst the Seascale pupils. It became so serious that it became necessary to either declare a half-day holiday or finish school early on “trip” days. There could be up to two or three trips each week during July and August. The timing of the harvest summer holiday was set by the condition of the local crops. It normally lasted for 3 weeks but could vary from year to year.
At the end of October or early November, during “Term time”, many of the boys are absent to replace the farm servants who were having their holidays. It was normal to break up for the Christmas holiday on Christmas Eve - the 24 December for two weeks holiday.
The last Headmistress was Miss Howes who retired in 1950
The School continued to provide for the education of the village children until the coming of the Ministry of Supply factory, that was built on the old Sellafield munitions factory site, for the development of nuclear power programme in the period from 1947 to 1954. Seascale expanded rapidly and the old school could not cope with the either the number of pupils or the educational expectations of the new population that was arriving in Seascale from all parts of the country. Various short term measures were taken to cope with the increased numbers until the new school was opened in 1951.
The first move was to hold an overflow class in the Pretoria Pavilion situated on the recreation ground and when this space was filled they also moved into the downstairs meeting rooms in St.Cuthberts Church Hall. For a time the old building was used for further education classes including woodwork and other handicrafts.
Eventually Des Walker who had been Head Master of the new school converted the building from a redundant school to a private house.
SEASCALE SCHOOL - A personal account by Matthew Mossop of Seascale.
Before the atomic energy project started, the population of Seascale was only about 600. When my daughter started school in 1947 she was 38th on the books (for that year)- that’ll give you an idea how many children were in the school.
When I was there, there were between about 60 and 70 aged from 4 to 14 years.
The Headmaster was John Henry Booth, who had been there practically the whole of his teaching life. He was the Organist and Choirmaster at the Church, and he used to take the upper school. The infants were taken by a lady called Miss Jackson, then Mrs.Taylor came along. It was a church school in those days; meeting in Schoolhouse, Hallsenna Road, built in 1874 - and not superseded until the County School was opened in 1951.
There was an earlier school on the old School Tarn many, many years ago - I can’t remember it, of course - where Mr.Fidler has his garden now, along Cross lanes. That’s how School Tarn got its name. The school was built on common land, at the old watering place for the village.
We used to get quite a lot of Gypsies when I was a boy. They used to come here for a week or a fortnight, sharpening knives and scissors and making basket work. Three or four families used to stay on the School Tarn site regularly. The children used to come to the school, just for a week or so.
Seascale County School - Gosforth Road, Seascale
The new school on Gosforth Road was known as Seascale County School and was built to take 280 children. It opened with a school roll of 174 pupils and the new head master was Mr.Charles A. Sims of Brackley in Northants. Members of staff were: Mr.L. Brown, Mrs.E.B. Hughes, Miss B. Hutchinson, Miss D. Myers and Mrs. Rudlinger who transferred from the old school. As the old one before, it provided for the age group from five to fifteen years. The school opened, in stages, during the school year 1950/51 starting with the primary school. Those children who were able to pass the old 11+ entrance examinations were able to travel to Millom Grammar School for their secondary education. A special train left Seascale station at 8 AM each morning to transport the pupils to Millom.
This arrangement continued until the opening, in 1964, of the Wyndham Comprehensive school at Egremont for pupils over the age of 11 years. This school was one of the first purpose built comprehensive schools in the country and again the children travelled to school on a special train running from Seascale via Sellafield & Beckermet to Egremont.
PRE-SCHOOL GROUPS
There were two pre-school establishments operating in Seascale in the late 50’s and early 60’s.
The first was the formal pre-preparatory school called the SINGING SURF operating from the house on the Nebb with the same name which opened in 1946? with 20 pupils. This was run by Mrs.Robinson and took pupils who would either attend the local school or move on to private Preparatory School Education. At that time it was a common site to see a crocodile of young children in their school uniforms moving around the village, particularly at lunch time when they went to the Scawfell for the midday meal.
The second was a much more informal affair run by Mrs.Annie Eilbeck from her home Chatsworth on the Banks. The children would spend a fair amount of the time on the beach leaving Chatsworth by the gate onto the Dandy path and then onto the beach via the Marble Arch. The children absolutely adored the whole experience - Blue Peter in Seascale. Mrs.Eilbeck was also the organist for St.Cuthberts Church.
The Teachers
Seascale Day School - School Tarn
Matthew Sherwen 1845
Mr.Henry Collins 1847
Mrs.Catherine Henderson 1861
Mr.Henry Gunson 1873
The Head Teachers at the GOSFORTH ROAD SCHOOL
Mr.Charles A.Sims 1951 - 1959 the went to Yeovil, Somerset
Mr.Desmond Walker 1959 - 1982 retired and continued to live in the village