EDUCATION
In 1759 the rector of Witney was paying for someone to
teach reading to a few children in Curbridge and the
other hamlets, but was doubtful that they would
benefit. (fn. 1) By 1771 Curbridge seems to have been the only
hamlet with a teacher paid by the rector. (fn. 2) In 1802 there
were said to be 'many schools' in the area, but in 1815
Curbridge seems to have had only a Sunday school for
20 boys and 20 girls, long-established, and soon to be
re-organized on the National plan. (fn. 3)
In 1835 there was a day school with 12 children paid
for by their parents and a Sunday school with 30 children, which needed a larger room. (fn. 4) The church built in
1836 had an attached schoolroom on the north,
described much later as a 'small miserable room' built as
a stable for the rector's horses. (fn. 5) On census day in 1851
attendances at the Sunday school were 124 in the
morning, presumably untypical, and 20 in the evening. (fn. 6)
In 1871 a National mixed school was built on the south
side of Main Road on a site given by William Dutton; it
was paid for by subscriptions (£204) and grants totalling
£52 from the diocese, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
and the National Society. (fn. 7) The building, probably
designed by John Collier of London, (fn. 8) was of stone and
brick and comprised a single room (25 ft. X 16 ft.) with
two porches. An uncertificated mistress was teaching 13
boys and 17 girls in 1871. (fn. 9) The school was administered
by the Witney National Schools committee and was
supported by a voluntary rate from 1874. (fn. 10) In 1884, when
a grant was first applied for, the inspector's report was
lukewarm, but after improvements had been made a
provisionally certificated mistress was appointed in
1888. (fn. 11) In 1890 average attendance was only 15, and in
1892 the school was in financial difficulty in the absence
of a grant; the rector was contemplating closure because
of the near impossibility of finding a qualified teacher for
so few pupils. The grant was resumed in 1892–3, when
average attendance was 28, remaining at that level into
the 20th century. (fn. 12) In 1904 the 'capital little school' was
praised especially for the quality of its geography and
arithmetic teaching. Good reports continued until the
First World War, although the difficulty of teaching older
children and infants (sometimes including babies) in the
same unpartitioned room was a constant problem. In
1914, when there were 17 older children and 8 infants, it
was proposed that pupils be transferred to Witney,
though the school was not finally closed until 1923. The
building, sold in 1927, survives as a private house. (fn. 13)
Charities For The Poor
One widow of a clothier or blanket-maker from
Curbridge was entitled to a place in John Holloway's
almshouses at Witney, built on Church Green about
1725. (fn. 14) The Witney surgeon James Leverett, by will dated
1783, left £50 secured on his toll-gate dues to the officers
of Curbridge township, the interest to be distributed in
bread at Christmas, (fn. 15) but the bequest seems never to have
been received.
At Curbridge's inclosure (begun c. 1839), some 5 a. of
former heath on the township's southern edge was
allotted to the lord of the manor and his lessee in trust as
a place of 'exercise and recreation', presumably for those
losing common rights as a result of inclosure. (fn. 16) In 1840
the land was divided among the poor by lot, and some
was apparently sold and the proceeds spent on coal. (fn. 17) The
East Gloucestershire Railway Company acquired some
lots by compulsory purchase in 1871, but title was so
uncertain that the company paid a sum into court. A
Charity Commission enquiry in 1907, after the parish
council had claimed the accumulated fund to buy a
recreation ground, found that although some lots were
still in private ownership the intention of benefiting all
inhabitants had not been seriously departed from. The
parish council's plan for a new recreation ground seems
not to have been pursued, and in 1962 the Charity
Commission, presumably in response to a similar
approach, concluded that the parish council could not
claim to be a trustee of the original recreational allotment. (fn. 18)