The Wilderspin National School is a former national school and

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

Barton-upon-Humber Barton-upon-Humber () or Barton is a town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 11,066. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. It is ...

, North Lincolnshire, and a museum focussing on the life and works of

Samuel Wilderspin Samuel Wilderspin (23 March 1791, in Hornsey, Wakefield – 1866) was an English educator known for his pioneering work on infant schools. His belief was that a child should be encouraged to learn through experience, and to development in feel ...

Architecture

The building was designed by the architect William Hey Dykes and Samuel Wilderspin for the Church of England and the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church. It is a red brick, single storey building, in the

Tudor revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

style with a Welsh slate roof. In plan it is H-shaped, originally intend for the infants to be in the area on the right, the boys to the left, and the girls in the centre. There are stone tablets carved on each of the wings, the Royal coat of arms to the left, and the arms of Reverend George Uppleby to the right. A rear extension was added in 1935.

History

The school was opened in 1844 and remains nearly complete. It is the only known survival of both a Wilderspin school and playground. When the school opened it superseded a smaller one ran by

Isaac Pitman Sir Isaac Pitman (4 January 1813 – 22 January 1897) was a teacher of the :English language who developed the most widely used system of shorthand, known now as Pitman shorthand. He first proposed this in ''Stenographic Soundhand'' in 183 ...

. When it opened it catered for over 100 infants aged 2–6 years old and is notable for its connection to Samuel Wilderspin who taught at the school alongside both his wife and daughter, and trained other teachers here. The school closed in 1978 and was first listed as a grade II building in September 1992.

Gallery

File:Wilderspin national school (left).jpg, Front (left) File:Wilderspin national school (centre).jpg, Front (centre) File:Wilderspin national school (right).jpg, Front (right) File:Wilderspin national school (back).jpg, Rear File:National School Blue Plaque, Barton-upon-Humber.jpg, Blue plaque recording the construction and restoration of the building

Museum

The building closed in 1978. In 1993 the Queen Street School Preservation Trust was formed to safeguard the building from further deterioration. It reopened as a museum in January 2009 following funding from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

(£858,500), Yorkshire Forward (£760,000),

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

(£198,000) WREN Ltd (£40,000), SITA Trust (£33,645) and Glanford Building Buildings Preservation Trust (£10,000). Since reopening in 2009 the Museum has had over 85,000 visitors and 40,000 people have used its conference facilities. Over 22,000 pupils have been involved with its schools education programme.

Awards

The Museum has been a recipient of a

Sandford Award The Sandford Award, previously the Sandford Award for Heritage Education, is a British and Irish award for education programmes at heritage sites. Its website describes it as "an independently judged, quality assured assessment of education programm ...

for heritage education. In May 2017, the school was listed as one of the ten 'best things to visit in North Lincolnshire' in a poll by the

Scunthorpe Telegraph The ''Scunthorpe Telegraph'' is a local paid-for newspaper published and distributed weekly in Scunthorpe, England. It was launched on 8 September 1937. Prior to the ''Scunthorpe Telegraph''s launch, the town was served by the '' Grimsby Evening ...

. The Queen Street School Preservation Trust, which runs the school, received the

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, also known as The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community and The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sect ...

in June 2018 for saving and restoring the Model Infant School and providing museum and educational services. Also in 2018, the school's Development Officer was awarded the 2018 Annual Town Award by the Barton Town Council in recognition of voluntary services to Barton-upon-Humber.

References

{{reflist Local museums in Lincolnshire Museums established in 2009 2009 establishments in England Grade II listed buildings in North Lincolnshire Barton-upon-Humber