The Old School
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It was generally known by all the inhabitants of the Parish that the site of the school belonged to the late Mr Henry Brooke who lived to a great age, (he was the father of the Cheshire Hunt). He had been in possession of the Estate since he was 21 years of age. The school was built in the memory of Mr C B Davies C.C. on land belonging to Henry Brooke. The funds for the building according to the Rev. John Prosser in 1871 “were raised entirely by local effort”. Henry Brooke allowed no one to participate in the management of the school, he paying all accounts for repairs etc. and refusing to have it placed under the Education Department. There are no deeds or information of any kind relating to the purchase of the site or erection of the original school buildings. A search was made in the l900s for the deeds, minutes of meetings etc. but nothing was found except details of the endowments left to the school. This was a sum of £300 donated in 1729 “Given towards maintaining a free school for ever” by Christopher Minshull £200, Ralph Wilbraham £50 and the parish £50 towards keeping the school in good repair. In 1903 Mr Luxmoore was of the opinion that it would be in the interest of the parish if the County Council came to some arrangement to purchase it from him. He was disposed to take a reasonable price, probably one third of what it would cost the County Council to erect a new one. If they did not agree to purchase he was willing to let the school to the Education Authority at the nominal rent of £15 per annum. However, on 30th June 1905 Charles Frederick Coryndon Luxmoore sold the school to the County Council for £450 this included all the outbuildings and land amounting to 2 roods and 11 perches. Key Events
2
June 1982
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The
Land upon which this school was built formed part of the
Church Minshull Estate and had been owned by the Brooke
family for several generations.