Littlethorpe Village Schoolchildren around 1916

HISTORY OF THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE, LITTLETHORPE

The creation of a school in Littlethorpe was largely the work of Miss Carolyn S. Serjeantson of Mount Pleasant in Ripon. In September, 1851 she purchased the land upon which the School House stands from the Leeds Northern Railway Company (later to merge to for the North Eastern Railway Company) for the sum of £15.

Three years later, in 1854 a trusteeship was set up which allowed for the hiring and firing of a schoolmaster and mistress who must be pious, Protestant and teach religious catechism, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar and sewing. The duty of the school was to educate children and poor persons in the township of Whitcliffe with Thorpe or any other township, so long as the child attends within 3 miles distance or less. Scriptures were to be read daily in school. Trustees were appointed to ensure that the school fulfilled its charter. The original trustees were Miss Serjeantson, her sister Jane, the Reverend George Frederick Williamson and the Right Reverend Charles Thomas Longley, Bishop of Ripon. If the school failed or closed, the property would revert to Miss Serjeantson.

In 1856 additional land was purchased from the North Eastern Railway Company. In 1877 Miss Serjeantson died, having previously married Reverend Pennyman Wharton Worsley. The school (now called the Littlethorpe Public Elementary School) closed in 1936 with a final attendance of 12 pupils. The property was sold into private hands 2 years later and has remained so ever since. In the early years as a family residence a pig was always kept in the girls outdoor toilet and a small area of the yard was fenced for chickens!

The letters CSS (Carolyn S. Serjeantson) and the date 1851 are still to be seen (though heavily eroded) on a plaque on the front of the building.     

 This Photo was taken inside the Village School - around the year 1916.

Whom can you identify in the photograph above?

 The young lady 3rd from right on the back row is Florence Barker. Born in 1902, she was to be the Mother of Florence Mitchell, Railway Cottages, Littlethorpe.

The young lady 2nd from the right on the middle row is Mary Mawe and her brother is second from the left on the back row. Their parents ran the Post Office in Littlethorpe. This was No 2 Woodbine Cottages, on Littlethorpe Road. Florence Mitchell was born at No 1 .  ( Though these numbers may now be the other way round - see correspondence).

Can anyone identify others in the picture? Have you seen old family photos of these children?

 Or these?

Above is the same location as the photo further above - 1930's - as it is today	This is the Schoolhouse as it is toda.y

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