DEUXHILL
Deuxhill is 6.5 km. south-south-west of
Bridgnorth. (fn. 69) The parish, conterminous with the
manor (fn. 70) within boundaries recorded in 1838, is
small (199 ha., 493 a.) and roughly lozenge
shaped, somewhat irregular on the west.
Crunells brook (a tributary of Borle brook) and
its tributary Horsford brook define parts of the
western and south-western boundaries and other
tributaries of the Borle the north-eastern one.
The southernmost part of the south-eastern
boundary is marked by the parish's principal
road. (fn. 71)
The name of the parish and the hamlet which
crowns a hill at the centre are taken from the hill
(138 m.), called after one Deowuc. (fn. 72) The hill
forms the end of a spur of high land running
down from the neighbourhood of Eudon Coppice 1.5 km. to the north-west; the hill is made
more prominent by a saddle of lower land
between it and the rest of the spur. The highest
land is on the western edge where the road to
Middleton Scriven crosses the spur of high land
and the parish boundary at 139 m.; in the east
and south-east, where streams drain out of the
parish, the land falls below 91 m. The hill-top
hamlet site and part of the northern extremity
of the parish stand on an outlier of the coal
measures to the east, beyond the Devonian Old
Red Sandstone that underlies the rest of the
parish and most of south-east Shropshire. (fn. 73)
The principal and only classified road through
the parish runs south from Bridgnorth to
Cleobury Mortimer crossing Crunells brook (fn. 74) by
Horsford bridge, maintained by the county from
1820; (fn. 75) it was a turnpike 1762–1877. (fn. 76) A road
runs west to Middleton Scriven; out of it a way
north towards Eudon George and Chetton is a
green lane as far as Tedstill and perhaps was so
by the early 19th century. (fn. 77)
In 1793 there were 6 houses in the parish and
there had been two or three more within memory. (fn. 78) Later there were never more than 8 or 9;
a cottage on the Middleton Scriven boundary in
the earlier 19th century had gone by 1883. (fn. 79) In
1985 the hamlet comprised Hall Farm, Church
Farm, a cottage, and the fragments of the ruined
church. It was the only settlement apart from
five dwellings to the south along the Cleobury
Mortimer road, including Horsford Mill and
Old School House (1879), (fn. 80) the latter apparently
the parish's newest house.

Deuxhill in 1882
The recorded population was 4 in 1086. (fn. 81) In
1793 there were 22 inhabitants. (fn. 82) In the 19th and
20th centuries the population never varied much
from a mean of 39, with a maximum of 55 (1831)
and minimum of 19 (1981). Tending to increase
up to 1901 (54), it fell thereafter. (fn. 83)
An ale-house was licensed in 1810. (fn. 84) There was
no wake, (fn. 85) and in the 19th century few social
activities were organized independently of those
at the school or in neighbouring parishes (fn. 86) and
nearby Bridgnorth. (fn. 87) In 1928, however, the
county library opened a book centre, (fn. 88) and in
1963 the newly closed school was bought as a
village hall for the surrounding district. (fn. 89)
MANOR.
In 1066 St. Mildburg's church at
Much Wenlock held DEUXHILL. Eardington
(also held by the church in 1066) (fn. 90) and Deuxhill were
probably the lands 'in the place called Chelmarsh'
given to Mildburg before 704 by her half-brothers
Merchelm and Mildfrith; (fn. 91) Chelmarsh, if reduced
by their gift, yet remained a valuable royal estate (fn. 92)
which in time became the earl of Mercia's. (fn. 93) St.
Mildburg's church, refounded as the Cluniac priory
of Wenlock c. 1080, (fn. 94) held Deuxhill as a demesne
manor until its surrender in 1540. (fn. 95)
In 1543 James Leveson of Wolverhampton, a
merchant of the staple, bought an estate in
Deuxhill from the Crown (fn. 96) only to sell it a few
weeks later to Thomas Grey of Whittington
(Staffs.). Grey died in 1559–60 leaving a son
John who came of age in 1561. (fn. 97) In 1586 John
Grey, then of Enville (Staffs.), conveyed his
Deuxhill property to his younger brother
George, of Wolverhampton, and his wife Joyce
(née Leveson). George Grey's purchase of other
lands in Deuxhill from Sir John Lyttelton (d.
1590) probably brought the whole township or
manor into his hands. In 1606 Grey sold the
manor to John Sotherton of Glazeley, (fn. 98) a baron
of the Exchequer, (fn. 99) and in 1611 Sotherton sold
it to Thomas Hassold of Clerkenwell (Mdx.). (fn. 1)
The manor remained in the Hassold (or Hassall) family for over a century. After Edward
Hassold's death in 1656 it seems to have passed
to his widow Anne, probably the owner in 1672.
Their son Timothy, born in 1657, evidently
inherited. He died in 1710 and after the death
of his widow Honor, c. 1721, the manor came to
their surviving children Honor and Eliza, whose
trustees sold it in 1728, either to the London
glassman William Bowles (fn. 2) or to George Rider of
Quatt who sold it on to Bowles, lord in the
1730s. (fn. 3) Bowles had bought the Burford estate,
of which Deuxhill then became an outlier; he
died childless in 1748 (fn. 4) leaving the estate to his
brother Humphry. Humphry (d. 1784) or his
son George, who lived mainly at Wanstead
Grove (Essex), (fn. 5) sold Deuxhill to John Lewis of
Quatt, agent for the Dudmaston estate, and to
another Mr. Lewis, a Bridgnorth attorney. The
latter was bought out by John Lewis who by
1793 owned the whole parish except the rector's
glebe and was lord of the manor. (fn. 6) John Lewis
died in 1804, (fn. 7) and George Lewis was probably
lord in 1805. (fn. 8)
Some time after 1805 the Lewis estate, consisting of one farm, (fn. 9) seems to have been split
into two, the lordship of the manor apparently
descending with Church farm. (fn. 10) By 1838 Church
farm (224 a.) had been sold and belonged to Miss
Sarah Pass (d. 1844), of the Square, Bridgnorth; (fn. 11) Mrs. Mary Deeton, of the same address,
subsequently owned it. She died in 1860, (fn. 12) and
Thomas Walker, of Studley Castle and Berkswell (Warws.), owned Church farm by 1863; he
was described as lord of the manor in 1870, and
from his time until 1919 the farm was part of
the Middleton Scriven estate. (fn. 13) Walker died in
1887, (fn. 14) and by 1891 William Bunney (d. 1899),
of Meole Brace, was lord. Bunney's trustees
owned the manor in 1917, when it was last
recorded, (fn. 15) and F. W. E. Bunney offered the
farm (208 a.) for sale when the Middleton
Scriven estate was broken up in 1919. (fn. 16)
Church Farm was probably where John Lewis
lived in the 1790s and then called Deuxhill Hall; (fn. 17)
it descended with the manor in the 19th and early
20th century. It is a 'handsome Georgian farmhouse' of brick with stone quoins and hipped roof. (fn. 18)
Hall farm (231 a.), with some smaller holdings, belonged to T. S. and R. H. Heptinstall
and the Revd. A. B. Haden in 1838. (fn. 19) Haden (d.
1863) alone was named as owner in the 1850s
and early 1860s, (fn. 20) but by 1910 the 232 a. belonged
to Agnes C. Hepinstall of Clevedon (Som.). (fn. 21)
Hall Farm, probably the original manor
house, (fn. 22) is a 17th-century timber framed house,
close panelled. Once a lobby-entrance type, perhaps contrived by adding to a pre-existing
building (surviving at the house's north-west
corner), the house was later extended on the east,
and the south (parlour) wing is much altered.
The west wall has been rebuilt in stone and
brick. (fn. 23)
The two farms continued to be differently
owned in the 20th century; neither was invariably owner occupied. By the 1980s a couple of
other farms extended into the parish. (fn. 24)
ECONOMIC HISTORY.
The manor, ½ hide,
was worth 10s. in 1066 and 20s. in 1086. At the
latter date there was 1 ploughteam on the demesne, and 2 bordars and a cottar had another
team. There was also 1 servus in the manor. (fn. 25)
Rent from the priory's Deuxhill demesnes
may have been owed at Ditton Priors in the late
14th century, (fn. 26) but in time Deuxhill may have
become a separate bailiwick for in 1540 rents
from other priory properties both near (the
Pickthorn property and a weir at Quatt) and far (fn. 27)
were owed to the Crown's minister there. (fn. 28)
There were freehold estates within the manor,
but by the early 16th century Wenlock priory
had probably acquired most of them (fn. 29) and probably owned most of the land in the parish apart
from the rector's glebe. Nevertheless at least one
hereditary estate seems to have survived: in 1540
John Pakington owed 3s. 4d. chief rent for a
Deuxhill property (fn. 30) that he had acquired with
the neighbouring manors of Glazeley and
Wadeley in the later 1520s. (fn. 31)
For much of its recorded history since the
early 16th century the manor evidently consisted of two substantial farms and some
smaller holdings. In 1540 two copyhold farms
and a copyhold cottage tenement were held of the
priory; each was held for two named lives and had
been granted at dates between 1506 or 1507 and
1532. Heriot and terciary were then, (fn. 32) and long
had been, exacted from such tenants by the priory:
in 1379, (fn. 33) when Agnes of Deuxhill died, her
prosperous peasant farm owed a heriot of 1 ox
and, as terciary at either a third or a half (fn. 34) of the
live and dead stock, 2 more oxen, 1 cow, 1 bullock,
6 ewes, 2 geese, 18s. 10d., shares of a salted ox and
a salted hog, shares of corn in the barn and in the
ground, 1 bu. of wheat, 2 bu. of beans, 1¼ qr. of
peas, 1½ bu. of barley malt, 2 beehives, and 3 hens
and a capon. Actually the priory took the cattle
and sheep, 10 qr. of wheat (6 of them in lieu of
the corn in the ground), and 3 qr. of oats, remitting
the rest to Agnes's widower.
The west side of the manor, broken by the
steep sided valleys of Crunells and Horsford
brooks, probably consisted of rough pasture
(perhaps once partly wooded) and meadow. (fn. 35)
The open fields were on the east side of the
manor. (fn. 36) Ridge and Reany piece, north of the
hamlet, indicated the location of one, bounded
on the east and north with rough moors,
possibly once wooded; (fn. 37) the names and former
shapes of fields south-east of the hamlet probably indicate the whereabouts of another that
may have been called, in Shropshire fashion,
the field towards Wadeley. (fn. 38) Probably between
those two fields, where the glebe later lay,
there was other open field land where inclosure
was in progress by c. 1590: Parson's close, part
of the glebe, had been all or mostly inclosed
from an open field but still contained five
ridges 'not being divided or mered from the
residue of the said close' and which were
claimed by the lord of the manor. (fn. 39)
There were no wood sales from the manor in
1540, (fn. 40) and any woodland that existed earlier
may have been cleared by then. By the early 19th
century there was very little wood, apparently
only ¼ a. of managed woodland in 1838, but
there were then woods in the Crunells brook
valley which, with others along Horsford brook
and here and there on the parish boundary,
amounted to perhaps 8 scattered acres of spinneys in the 20th century. In the 19th and earlier
20th century the two farms had over 9 a. of
orchards in the hamlet, but in the mid 20th
century they were grubbed out. (fn. 41)
The land was said to be mostly arable in the
1730s. In the mid 18th century there were still
two farmers and a few cottagers, (fn. 42) but by 1793
the farms had been made into one of 470 a.
let for £300; one farmhouse, inhabited by a
workman and probably Hall Farm, then looked
ruinous. (fn. 43) Division of the Lewis estate after 1805
separated the two farms again, (fn. 44) although in the
mid 19th century their tenants were members of
the same family, the Birkins. (fn. 45) In 1838, on land
admittedly stiff and wet, farming was said to be
slovenly; 233 a. were then arable, 205 a. pasture,
and 45 a. meadow, and the usual four-year
course, very similar to what had been followed
over forty years earlier, was fallow, wheat, oats
or clover (the latter partly mown, partly pastured), and oats or peas. (fn. 46)
Table XVII Deuxhill: Land use, Livestock, and crops
|
|
1867 |
1891 |
1938 |
1962 |
| Percentage of grassland |
62 |
77 |
81 |
56 |
| arable |
38 |
23 |
19 |
44 |
| Percentage of cattle |
14 |
39 |
25 |
19 |
| sheep |
69 |
47 |
72 |
80 |
| pigs |
17 |
14 |
3 |
0 |
| Percentage of wheat |
54 |
44 |
53 |
56 |
| barley |
23 |
22 |
0 |
26 |
| oats |
23 |
33 |
47 |
18 |
| mixed corn & rye |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Percentage of agricultural land growing roots and vegetables |
8 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
Sources: P.R.O., MAF 68/143, no. 9; /1340, no. 13; /3880,
Salop. no. 198; /4792, no. 198. Deuxhill's returns were grossed
with Glazeley's after 1962.
In the later 19th century pastoral farming
increased, with an emphasis on oats rather than
wheat on the diminishing arable acreage and on
cattle rather than sheep on the pastures; pig
keeping fell steadily. (fn. 47) By 1905 permanent grass
occupied 363 a., arable land only 101 a.; the
proportions were similar on Church farm, a
dairy and rearing farm, in 1919 (fn. 48) and on Hall
farm, a stock raising farm, in 1940. By 1951,
however, nearly 40 per cent of Hall farm was
under the plough (fn. 49) as arable farming revived in
the mid century. Wheat (well suited to the heavy
land) and barley became the main crops; on the
grass there were more sheep, though in the 1980s
there were dairy heifers on the parish's farms,
in winter taken in to prevent poaching of the
pastures.
By 1808 Horsford mill stood on Crunells
brook, where it flowed out of the parish. (fn. 50) In the
earlier 19th century, as well as the leat from the
confluence of Crunells and Horsford brooks,
there was a small pond and dam (fn. 51) higher up
Crunells brook, and there may once have been
'water works' higher up Horsford brook. The
mill was owned with Hall farm until some time
between c. 1910 and 1940. A corn mill, it
probably ceased working soon after 1900, but c.
1910 the Winwoods, the last millers, still occupied the c. 9 a. that had been let with it, and they
may have worked them as a smallholding as late
as 1929. (fn. 52)
In the 1730s it was recalled that 'formerly
there was coal got' behind the church, evidently
in Coalpit moors near the northern corner of the
parish. The coal, however, proved very sulphurous, and the work was stopped 'upon account of
the water'. (fn. 53)
There is an old quarry north-east of Horsford
mill, and a nearby field was one of two in the
parish called Limekiln leasow; the other was
beside the road from Deuxhill to Middleton
Scriven. (fn. 54)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Deuxhill owed suit
to the prior of Wenlock's court of Bourton
hundred from 1198 to 1763 (fn. 55) or later. (fn. 56) There is
evidence of Deuxhill manor court being held in
the earlier 16th, and perhaps even the late 15th,
century: it probably sat only occasionally, to
renew copyholds and exact terciary and heriot.
Perquisites of a Deuxhill court held in Ditton
Priors in May 1540 amounted to 14s. in heriot
and 46s. in terciary. (fn. 57)
Deuxhill was excluded from the municipal
(though not the parliamentary) borough of Wenlock in 1836. The county magistrates then
assigned it to the Bridgnorth petty sessional
division of Brimstree hundred, evidently in ignorance of its whereabouts, but by January 1837
it was in the Chelmarsh division of Stottesdon
hundred. (fn. 58)
Expenditure on 'occasional' relief of the poor
was £3 a year 1812–14. It averaged £5 13s. a
year 1814–17 and £24 19s. in 1818–19. Fluctuating somewhat in the 1820s and earlier 1830s,
expenditure then averaged £16 3s., lowest (£8
3s.) in 1827 and highest (£28) in 1831. (fn. 59)
Deuxhill was in Bridgnorth poor-law union
1836–1930, (fn. 60) Bridgnorth highway district 1863–
95, (fn. 61) Bridgnorth rural sanitary district 1872–94,
Bridgnorth rural district 1894–1974, and Bridgnorth district from 1974. (fn. 62) The civil parish had
a joint parish council with Billingsley, Glazeley,
and Middleton Scriven C.P.s by 1967. (fn. 63)
CHURCH.
In the early 12th century Deuxhill
was subject to a church at Glazeley, an estate
which, like Deuxhill, may once have been a
member of Chelmarsh since it lay between Chelmarsh and Deuxhill. Wenlock priory had
probably founded a manorial chapel at Deuxhill
by c. 1115 when it secured its independence from
Glazeley church; some 12th-century fabric
seems to have survived to the 19th century. (fn. 64) As
the chaplain's tithes were not appropriated to the
priory his benefice became a rectory, but because
the parish was small the rectory was united
during the Middle Ages with the rectorial chaplaincy of Middleton Priors, (fn. 65) on the nearest part
of the priory's estate.
The advowson of the united rectory belonged
to Wenlock priory. (fn. 66) Like the priory's other
patronage it was exercised by the Crown during
the Hundred Years' War (fn. 67) until denization in
1395 (fn. 68) permitted the priory to resume its advowsons. (fn. 69) Deuxhill and Middleton Priors were still
united in 1505, but in 1515 Peter Griffith was
instituted as rector of Deuxhill alone, (fn. 70) and in
1521 the rector of Neenton was instituted to the
adjoining Middleton Priors. The bishop was
probably planning a measure of pastoral reorganization, for in 1530, when the rector of
Glazeley (the nearest church to Deuxhill) resigned, the bishop sequestrated it and
committed it to Griffith, (fn. 71) who, by 1535, was
rector of both churches. (fn. 72) Wenlock priory evidently relinquished the advowson of Deuxhill,
which by 1538 was united to Glazeley in the
patronage of John Pakington, (fn. 73) who had recently
acquired the manor and advowson of Glazeley
and a small estate in Deuxhill. (fn. 74) The advowson
of the united rectories (fn. 75) then descended with
Glazeley manor until shortly after c. 1910, (fn. 76)
although occasionally others acquired turns to
present kinsmen. (fn. 77) Deuxhill with Glazeley was
held with Chetton rectory (in the same patronage) 1716–50, but the informal union was
interrupted, perhaps inadvertently, 1750–7; in
1759, however, a permanent union was made. (fn. 78)
Three or four years after the death (1908) of the
Bridgnorth carpet manufacturer T. M. Southwell his trustees sold the Glazeley estate, but
they retained the advowson of Chetton with
Glazeley and Deuxhill until R. B. Southwell,
rector, died in 1953; it then passed to Lancing
College (Suss.). From c. 1975 the Woodard
Schools (Southern Division) Ltd. held it on the
college's behalf. By 1985 a rector living at Sidbury held the united living in plurality with
those of Billingsley with Sidbury, of Chelmarsh,
and of Middleton Scriven, the patrons presenting jointly. (fn. 79)
Some medieval rectors bore local names. (fn. 80)
Gilbert of Reigate (instituted in 1290) may have
been a graduate, (fn. 81) but no other medieval rector
of Deuxhill is known to have been. Hamon of
Sandwich (1295) was much involved in ecclesiastical business, but his later career foundered
through his neglect of his livings. (fn. 82) It may have
been hard to achieve residence at Deuxhill. (fn. 83)
During the Crown's exercise of the patronage
one rector (instituted in 1358) was certainly a
royal clerk (fn. 84) and others may have been: William
of Burstall, rector 1349–58, may be the man who
was master of the Rolls in the 1370s. (fn. 85) After the
priory resumed its patronage Richard de
Arderne became rector in 1399; he was also vicar
of Ditton Priors and held other local livings. (fn. 86)
In 1291 Deuxhill and Middleton Priors together were worth less than £4 a year. (fn. 87) In 1535
Deuxhill and Glazeley were worth £4 5s. 4d. a
year exclusive of an 8s. pension owed by the
rector of Deuxhill to Wenlock priory; (fn. 88) about
that time the tithes were leased and payment of
the pension fell to the rector's tenant. (fn. 89) By the
mid 18th century Deuxhill and Glazeley together were worth less than £50 a year clear,
insufficient to maintain a priest: thence the union
with Chetton. (fn. 90)
In 1793 the rectory of Deuxhill had a barn
and 17 a. of glebe 'lying well together' north of
the hamlet and immediately east of the Bridgnorth road; it was worth £20 a year but was then
in hand. The tithes were let for £35. (fn. 91) All the
tithes belonged to the rector and in 1838 were
commuted to £77 17s., including those of the
glebe. (fn. 92) The rector's income from Deuxhill in
1851 was £108. (fn. 93) Deuxhill had more glebe than
the other livings in the united benefice in 1887, (fn. 94)
but no rectory house is recorded there, and most
post-medieval rectors apparently lived at
Glazeley (fn. 95) or, later, at Chetton. (fn. 96)
In 1553 Deuxhill and Glazeley shared a communion set. (fn. 97) Communion was celebrated six
times a year in 1719, (fn. 98) presumably alternately in
the two churches: that was the practice in 1793
when there were four celebrations a year (at the
'usual times'), two in Glazeley and two in Deuxhill. There were then very few communicants in
Deuxhill, where the rector read morning service
every other Sunday. (fn. 99) In 1851 the church had
93 sittings, 40 of them free. On Census Sunday
that year the afternoon service was attended by
30 adults; the Sunday school was attended by 26
children, many from other parishes. (fn. 1)
The rubble stone church, of unknown dedication, (fn. 2) having lost its chancel by the 16th
century, comprised in the 19th a nave and a
south porch; an aisle mentioned in 1793 and
1856 (fn. 3) was probably not structural. (fn. 4) The church
was said in 1759 to be very ruinous but in 1793
and 1870 seems to have been in reasonable
repair. (fn. 5) After 1875, however, parishioners resorted to the new church at Glazeley and their
own, disused, was pulled down in 1886. (fn. 6)
In the 14th century, as in the following five
centuries, the living was too poor to maintain
the chancel effectively and the parishioners were
too few to look after the nave properly. In 1318
an indulgence of 30 days was offered to all
contributing to the repair and upkeep of the
church and its bell turret (campanile). (fn. 7) As at
Middleton Priors, however, the chancel was
pulled down; that was done before the insertion
of a late medieval window in the wall blocking
a round chancel arch. (fn. 8)
A timber south porch seems to have been built
in 1661 with the lady of the manor's aid, (fn. 9) and
tablets were put up to commemorate Nathaniel
Worthington (d. 1730), members of the Corfield
family who died between 1730 and 1770, and the
lord of the manor John Lewis (d. 1804) and his
widow Frances (d. 1809). (fn. 10)
In 1793 an unrailed communion table stood
against the east end of the aisle; there were also
9 irregular pews and 'a kind of pulpit', but no
reading desk. The floor was then very bad, (fn. 11) but
in 1837 the interior was described as 'very
neat'. (fn. 12) The bell turret, which had had two bells
(one broken) in the 1730s, contained one in
1851. (fn. 13) A font and clock were mentioned in 1856,
when the church was said to be in 'good repair'. (fn. 14)
The west end was lit by a single small window
in the west wall, and the south wall contained
just one square window. Only the north wall,
buttressed at the west end, contained more than
one window: it had three, probably all medieval.
The westernmost one, 14th-century, in a short
stretch of the wall, was all that survived in the
1980s. Wall footings then indicated the extent of
the churchyard.
A single register was kept for Deuxhill and
Glazeley. The earliest surviving volume covers
the years 1655–68 and 1694–1720. The second
begins in 1736, and the registers are complete
thereafter. (fn. 15)
NONCONFORMITY.
In 1672 Anne Hassold's house was licensed for Presbyterian
worship, (fn. 16) and David Jenks, ejected from Bryngwyn (Radnors.) in 1661 but with local
connexions, (fn. 17) was licensed to conduct Presbyterian worship. Shortly afterwards, however,
Jenks was licensed in Shrewsbury (fn. 18) where he
normally lived, (fn. 19) and in 1676 no dissenter was
recorded in Deuxhill. (fn. 20)
EDUCATION.
In 1819 c. 5 pupils were taught
in an unendowed day school at their parents'
expense, but children of the poor, paying 1d. a
week, could go c. 3 miles to a school 'on the new
system' (fn. 21) in a neighbouring parish. A school,
called a day and Sunday school in 1835 when
there were 27 boys and 24 girls, was supported
partly by the minister then and partly by subscribers in 1856 and 1871. (fn. 22) Like its successor it
took most of its pupils from surrounding parishes.
Deuxhill was one of six parishes included in
the united district of Chetton school board, (fn. 23)
formed compulsorily in 1878. In 1879 one of the
board's two schools (fn. 24) was built, centrally in the
district, at Deuxhill; it opened in 1880 with 66
places in a schoolroom and classroom. (fn. 25) Inspected in its first year, (fn. 26) the school earned
government grant, and from 1893 a drawing
grant too. (fn. 27) Attendance was often high, (fn. 28) strikingly so (fn. 29) by the standards of rural schools; it
averaged 59 in 1885. (fn. 30) As early as 1881 there
were summonses for irregular attendance. (fn. 31) Fees
were abolished in 1891. (fn. 32) The school, though a
board school, was closely associated with the
church and even had annual diocesan scripture
examinations 1881–1904. (fn. 33) It was enlarged for
78 in 1895, (fn. 34) but in 1901 some pupils were
transferred to the board's Chetton Down
school. (fn. 35) In 1907–8 the school was enlarged for
100 and improved. (fn. 36) Attendance averaged 68 in
1896, 87 in 1905, and 96 in 1913. (fn. 37) Gardening
was taught from c. 1916. (fn. 38)
The roll was 65 in 1924, 84 in 1933, and 70
in 1939 including 15 evacuees, 12 of them, with
a teacher, from Liverpool. A teacher and 20
Wallasey evacuees were admitted in 1941. All
evacuees had left by 1943. Building and facilities
were improved in the 1940s, and in 1947 Deuxhill and Chetton Down schools were
reorganized: Deuxhill temporarily became a senior and infant school, taking 16 senior pupils
from Chetton Down and sending 11 juniors
there. That year senior girls began attending
Bridgnorth domestic science centre, and next
year pupils aged 13–14 transferred to St. Mary's
C.E. school, Bridgnorth. In 1950 there were 12
pupils aged 11–12 and 10 infants. When 11-yearolds went to St. Mary's in 1952 Deuxhill took 6
juniors from Chetton Down and became a primary school. The roll was 20 in 1952 but 14 by
1961 when the school closed, pupils transferring
to Down County Primary school. (fn. 39)
County-council evening classes in wood carving (1895–8) and bee keeping, horticulture, and
ambulance (1899–1902) were usually well attended (fn. 40) but those in drawing and elementary
subjects (1904–6, 1926) less so. (fn. 41)
CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.
Deuxhill,
with Chetton and Glazeley parishes, shared in
two of the three charities united in 1914 and
known informally as the Chetton Ecclesiastical
Charities. The combined annual income was £6
c. 1975: £4 from the charity left by Archdeacon
Vickers (d. 1851) and £2 from Anne Vickers's
charity, established 1864. Deuxhill was also one
of seven parishes benefiting from the Glazeley
and District Nursing Association, whose income
of £70 was applicable, under a Scheme of 1975,
to the relief of sick, disabled, or handicapped
people. (fn. 42)