tees of the fund endowed with the share in the Grand Junction Canal (fn. 465) and in 1839, having been elected to the committee of the county branch of the National Society, (fn. 466) Barton persuaded Sir John to build a new school at a cost of £200, which the society supplemented with a grant of £20 towards fittings. (fn. 467) The school comprised two rooms, each 21 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. (presumably one for boys and the other for girls), although there was no house for the master. In 1840 there were 32 boys at the day school (but only nine girls), aged between six and 12, and about 60 children of that age in the parish not attending school, who were said to be working on the farms or making lace, for which they could earn between 2d. and 5d. a day. The day schools had an endowment of £10 a year but the master received a salary of £40 3s., the balance coming from Sir John Mordaunt. (fn. 468) His death in 1845 led to a reduction in charitable donations of all kinds on the estate, although both the master and mistress continued to receive a coal allowance in addition to their salaries. (fn. 469)
In the 1850s Barton tried to mitigate the evil of children leaving the school at an early age by establishing an allotment garden for the boys (fn. 470) and ensuring that in the girls' school a certain number of hours were devoted to reading, writing, arithmetic and plain needlework, even if in other respects it was run as a lace school. (fn. 471) Barton also established a night school, to which the local branch of the National Society made a grant of £4 for equipment to meet £2 raised in the parish. (fn. 472)
In the 1860s the boys' school, where the master was 'well-intentioned, but growing infirm', had an average attendance of 30; the same figure was returned for the girls' school, although the pupils only attended for ordinary classes two days a fortnight, the rest of the time being devoted to teaching lace-making. There was a night school and library attached to the girls' school but not the boys'. (fn. 473) A few years l