SuffolkNews looks back at four village schools, near Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Stowmarket and Haverhill, that shut their doors
In days gone by, many villages would have had their own school.
Low pupil numbers or decaying school buildings was often why they ended up closing, despite being at the heart of their local communities.
Here we look at some lost village schools, near Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Haverhill and Stowmarket.
Drinkstone School
Drinkstone's Church of England school, sited next to the church in the village, near Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, was founded in 1859.
It closed in 1986 after a fight to keep it open, and has since been converted to a private house.
The school's last headteacher Sheila Wright, who taught at the school during its last five years and was acting head at the time of closure, researched the school's history, publishing 'Drinkstone School and Village; A Suffolk History' in 2005.
An article about the book in the Bury Free Press at the time mentions the welcoming atmosphere when she first stepped through the doors to teach just 28 children.
The book opened up histories told in the words of villagers themselves, such as Raymond Bland, born in 1929, who recalled milk being collected from the dairy and cooled, while in winter it would be warmed before the school stove.
Sheila remembers it with affection as 'a special corner of the world' and says 'it felt like a large family, everyone knowing everyone else and at ease together'.
The school was enlarged in 1912 but spent many of its final years under the threat of closure.
Information about Sheila's book says it was starved of funds for essential modernisation work such as the installation of flush toilets, but 'the dedication of its teachers and the lively spirit of its pupils ensured that it was a stimulating and happy place in which to learn'.
A campaign leaflet produced by the governors of Drinkstone VCP School about the proposed closure, said: "What makes a village?
"People and the things which they do together, whether it be at home, in the Church, public house, village hall, or the school, it is essential for the life of the community.
"A village without these things is no village at all. Drinkstone does not intend to become yet another dormitory."
Drinkstone's demise arose due to the needs of upgrading the building, with pupils transferred to nearby schools.
Sheila's local history books also include one about a former schoolmistress of Drinkstone, Ruth Gobbitt, nee Minns, who was found drowned in a pond in the village in 1927.
An inquest verdict of 'suicide whilst temporarily insane' was recorded.
-Thanks to Drinkstone local history group for access to their archive for this piece.
Badwell Ash School
Parents were left devastated when Badwell Ash School in Badwell Ash, near Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, opened its doors to pupils for the final time in December, 2013.
The school had a history of more than 150 years, having been opened in 1861, but it shut despite a valiant campaign by parents to save it.
The school’s demise followed dwindling pupil numbers, and failed attempts to form a federation with another school, and an inadequate rating by Ofsted.
It had been without a permanent headteacher for its last three years and saw all but one of its governing body resign.
The Bury Free Press reported in an article published on December 20, 2013, that the school’s remaining 23 pupils were due to attend other schools from the January.
Acting headteacher Margo Barker is quoted in the article as saying: "We are all very sad to see this school close. It has been a very difficult time for the parents who fought so hard to keep it open."
Maureen Eade, chairman of the school's Interim Executive Board, had said it had not proved possible to achieve a federation with a local school as the numbers were no longer viable and there would be no teachers for January, 2014.
Parent Helen Flack, who organised a petition to try and save the school, said at the time: "It's absolutely devastating. We've tried our hardest to stop it and we couldn't."
On the village website, Roy Le Grice remembered the school in the late 1930s when the teachers were two sisters, Miss Miriam and Miss Eva Howse.
It reads: “The ladies were very keen naturalists and taught the children how to present a paper on a local bird and a local tree. Badwell school won this competition many times and were very proud of this achievement.
“The older boys were each given a small allotment and were taught how to grow their own vegetables. This was very useful as the war was imminent.”
-Thanks to the village website https://badwellash.suffolk.cloud for help with the piece.
Great Bradley Village School
The first known record of a school in Great Bradley, near Haverhill and Newmarket, dates from the early 18th Century.
The Great Bradley school was part of a wider charity movement, founded in 1698 as the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, at home and in the colonies, to provide free education and sometimes clothing for the children of the poor.
It was not until the 1870 Education Act, which saw the setting up of education boards, that plans were made for a purpose-built school in the village.
The school, which was church controlled, opened in April 1880 on the site of the present village hall.
The Great Bradley village website says: “Several villagers who attended the school remember taking time off to help with the harvest. One headmistress closed the school mid-term so that she could attend the Chelsea Flower Show.”
All children walked to school, and most of them brought food to eat at midday. For many, their meal consisted of bread and butter and jam with a drink, out of the brook.
During the Second World War, Mrs Martin cooked 44 school dinners on a three-burner oil stove at her home, and she would wheel these meals down to the school on a trolley.
Because of the lack of transport and opportunities in the area, most girls when they left school went into service, and the boys into farmwork.
By 1916 numbers at the school had increased to 74, but there then followed a general decline in numbers, except during the Second World War when evacuees from London brought the school to near capacity.
The school closed in 1967 after numbers had dropped to just over a dozen. Those children were transferred to the newly-built school in Little Thurlow.
Mrs P Pearman, who had taught at Great Bradley School for two years, remembers it as a 'happy little place'.
-Thanks to village website www.greatbradley.org.uk for this information.
Whepstead School
The first mention of a school in Whepstead, near Bury St Edmunds, was that established by Thomas Sparkes in 1721.
He had given a copyhold farm of over 24 acres, which provided an income for the education of 10 poor children.
The Whepstead School building and adjoining school house in Brockley Road were built in 1874 – and are now Grade II Listed - with the school opening in 1875 with room for 120 pupils. The first school board was chaired by the Rev'd Steele.
The school logs tell a lot about the life of the viilage: the weather, the farming year, celebrations, sickness and poverty.
A summary of the logs from Victorian times, compiled by Kala Nobbs, talks of attendance in 1875 being affected by: children having chilled feet, boys being required for farmwork, bad weather and ‘want of boots’.
In the logs illness is also a common reason for pupils missing school, including measles, scarlet fever, mumps and bronchitis.
It was also a battle to get parents to send their children to school.
In June 1877 the school board made an effort to compel parents to send their children to school, with the parents actually taken to court.
The log for October 20, 1876, talks of the parents objecting to home lessons and being opposed to the teaching of geography, grammar and poetry ‘under a mistaken idea that such instructions will unfit children for their future occupation’.
“It is a pity that they cannot be convinced to the contrary for the children would work better if influenced by their parents,” it reads.
According to the Government website the school closed in August 1989, and the school and the school house are now private dwellings.
-Thanks to Kala Nobbs and the Whepstead village website http://whepstead.onesuffolk.net for help with this piece.
