The Victorian School

The Victorian School
Village centre


As it once looked (picture from SWOP website)	As it looks today

The school for Flackwell infants
Sat upon this plot
And many older Heathens
Remember well this spot.
Here they stayed ‘til seven
When they ventured down the hill
And then they had to suffer
An even bitter pill,
For cars and early transport
Were few and far between
And weary little children
Were often to be seen
Walking home from valley schools
A mile or two away,
Not the way most children now
Would like to end their day!

There has been some form of basic education in the village for many years. It is believed that there were Bible classes in the old Primitive Methodist Chapel in Chopstick Alley, private lessons in a couple of local houses, plus an early Methodist school and meeting hall in the village centre (to the left of where Swains Market now stands) as early as 1832. These school lessons were later given in the Wesleyan Chapel itself. This school later moved to the Victorian school building where the Community Centre now stands. Finally, Carrington Junior School was built on Lady Carrington's recreation ground in the 1960s where it still stands today.

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