NORTH HILL SCHOOLS

North Hill Church of England School closed in 1964. The building was purchased from the diocese and was converted into The Racehorse public house. The building dates from 1859 and the adjoining house was the schoolmaster’s home.

There has been a school in Coad’s Green since 1869. According to the BBC Domesday Reloaded webpage (now removed) “The land was bought to build an Ebenezer Chapel in 1826 for £1 10s 0d. This Methodist chapel was built on to make a Methodist Day School which was opened in 1869 .The original chapel being no longer needed as a larger more splendid chapel was built next to the Ebenezer Chapel. In 1912 Cornwall County Council took over the running of the school and leased the buildings for £6 a year. The current rent (1986) is still under £30. In July 1985 the school had 60 pupils and 2 teachers. In September there will be 3 teachers. During the summer of 1985 the roof was taken off and replaced and the inside remodelled to cater for three classrooms for the first time. The school uses the village hall for assemblies and games and an adjoining field leased from the chapel by the Parish Council for football etc.”

Early schoolmasters and mistresses were not necessarily certificated; schools were not state run and the teachers would charge pupils on an attendance basis.

Extracts from H M Inspectors’ Reports of the North Hill School 1888-1895

Images of North Hill School

1911 - Cornish Times

1912 Day School Attendance Awards

Year Not Known

1928

1951 - was this North Hill or Coad’s Green?

Some time in the 1950s

Schoolmasters and schoolmistresses on the census

1841 census - Battens Lake, North Hill between Batten’s Farm and North Hill Village; this 1883 map shows a body of water which could be Batten’s Lake and is very close to the school building that was built in 1859.
- Philip Sandercock, about 35, schoolmaster living with his wife Catherine, also about 35 and their five children: Mary Ann (10), Henry (8), John (6), Elizabeth (4) and Matilda (1).

1841 census - South Battens, probably close to Batten’s Mill; it is not known whether Messrs Sandercock and Paynter worked together or in separate establishments.
- Edmund Paynter, about 35, schoolmaster living with his wife Jemima, aged about 30, and their children Emma (7), Louisa (5) and Elin (1); they also had a servant staying with them at the time of the census, Ann Martin (14) who was born outside Cornwall.

1851 census - Coad’s Green village
- Mary Spear (nee Jasper) was aged 40 and the widow of John Spear of Penrest in Lezant parish; Mary was born and had previously lived at West Tremollet with her parents Edward and Joanna; living with her was her 10 year old son, Edward, her elder sister Ann Jasper and their lodger Mary Ann Garland (31), a dressmaker from ,Stoke Climsland.

1851 census - Bathpool
- Mary Doney (nee Aunger) aged 76 was listed as a schoolmistress; she lived with her husband James Doney who was 85 and classified as a pauper.

1851 census- Kingbear
- Elizabeth Darley (38) was the widow of John Darley, a miner who had died in 1850; Elizabeth was listed as a schoolmistress and a pauper; her three children lived her – William (14, a mine labourer), Benjamin (12, also a mine labourer) and Mary Darley aged 2; they had a lodger - Thomas Marshall, aged 35 and also a mine labourer.

1851 census - North Hill village
- Mary A Bishop (25) was living with her widowed mother; Mary had been brought up at Trefursdon

1851 census - North Hill village
- Philip Sandercock (47) a schoolmaster born in Tresmeere was living with his wife Catherine (45) and their children John (15, a carpenter), Matilda (11), Helen (9) and Lavinia (5).

1861 census - Coad’s Green
- Jane Doney (20) a schoolmistress was living with her father Samuel Doney (50, agricultural labourer)

1861 census – North Hill village
- Priscilla Wilcock (25) a schoolmistress; the daughter of John and Jane Wilcock; John was a bailiff, probably on the Rodd estate.

1861 census - North Hill village
- Philip Sandercock (57) a schoolmaster living with his wife Catherine (55) and their children Matilda (21 who was also a schoolmistress), Helen (19, a dressmaker) and Lavinia (5); also with them were two grandchildren – William Saltern (9) and John Saltern (6)

1871 census - Coad’s Green - Marian A Barriball (22), a schoolmistress, was boarding with Richard Ough, a bootmaker, and his family; Marian had been born in St Leonard’s parish in Shoreditch, then on the outskirts of London, her parents were Richard and Jane Read Barriball; Richard was a tailor who was born in Launceston near the South Gate. Marian’s brother Alfred married Richard Ough’s daughter Grace and visited the family in Congdon’s Shop from time to time. He was vice principal of Westminster Teacher Training College just before WW1.

1871 census - Pryers
- Mary Dennis (80) was recorded as a schoolmistress; she was living with another schoolmistress, Jenny Hender (72); both ladies were widows and both were born in North Hill.

1871 census - Lewarn Cottage, Lewarne
- Eliza Buckingham (nee Foott) (53) was shown as a widow and a schoolmistress; she was living in this cottage with her daughter Jessie who was 8; Eliza’s husband was a millwright in Lewarne who had died in the preceding January; Jessie later went on to live in Plymouth and married a carpenter from Pembroke where she eventually moved with her husband, taking her mother to also live there.

1871 census - North Hill village
- Ann Pascoe (26), a schoolmistress, was living with her mother Thomasin Pascoe (55); also with them was Ann’s illegitimate son, Charles who had been baptised in Launceston when he and his mother were in the workhouse there.

1871 census - North Hill village
- Philip Sandercock (67) a schoolmaster living with his wife Catherine (65); with them were their son John Sandercock (35 and a carpenter), John’s wife, Mary Jane Sandercock, and three year old William, son of John and Mary, who was born in Croydon in Surrey.

1881 census - Warren’s Park
- Emily Hampton (23), a school mistress from Christow lived with her mother Mary (59) and her sister Edith (19) who was a daily governess.

1881 census - Coad’s Green
- Ann Peter (13) was living at home with her parents John and Mary; Ann wasn’t a teacher but has been proudly given the occupation on the census of “Monitor in School”.

1881 census - North Hill village
- Henry Wheddon (26) and his sister Sarah (19) had taken on the roles of schoolmaster and schoolmistress respectively from Philip Sandercock who had retired and taken on the role of sub-postmaster.

1891 census - Kingbear
- Lucy Sargent (18) was listed as a school teacher.

1891 census - Kingbear
- Alice Mary Landry (20) was a schoolmistress.

1891 census - North Hill village
- William Rhoden (20) was a schoolmaster and had been born in Haslington in Cheshire.

1891 census - North Hill village
- In the household of Charles and Susan Brown were two schoolmistresses; their daughter Emma Brown (20) and a lodger Mary Coumbe (23) were recorded schoolmistresses; Susan Brown was Susan Bishop before she married and her sister Mary had been a teacher in the village in 1851; Mary Coumbe was born in Egg Buckland in Devon and seems to have no obvious connection to the local Coumbe family.

1891 census - Coad’s Green
- Emily Ann Weeks (27), the daughter of the local fishmonger, was a schoolmistress.

1891 census - Coad’s Green
- William Atkins (29) from Potterspury in Northamptonshire was a schoolmaster.

The image at the top of the page shows North Hill School pupils.