Shotley Grove School

Before the centralisation of education and the Education Act of 1877, schooling was strongly influenced by the philanthropy of local families and business.

Shotley Grove School was established in 1841 by landowner and businessman John Annandale for the children of the workers in his nearby paper mill on Shotley Grove. John Annandale’s wife shared in the teaching here.

In the 1840s, this thriving school was attended by 120 children averaging 80 fee-paying scholars. There was also a residence for the master, listed in the 1894 Blackhill Parish Register as Jonathan Collinson.  Perhaps the schoolmaster Jonathan Addison, of Woodbine Cottage, and schoolmistress Miss Kinnear, who lived nearby on Durham Road, who are also listed, taught here.

Enlarged in 1873 and again in 1893, the school could hold 157 children.  It closed eventually in 1903.

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