Great Ayton Friends' School (1841–1997) in

Great Ayton Great Ayton is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The River Leven (a tributary of the River Tees) flows through the village, which lies just north of the North York Moors. According to the 2021 Census, the parish has a popu ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England, was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

, agricultural

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

, run by the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

(the Quakers). The school was situated on High Green on an estate of around . The River Leven (a tributary of the

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

), ran through the school grounds and was bridged in several places.

History

In the early 1800s,

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

Quakers searched for a suitable site for an agricultural school. This was for the children of

disowned Disownment occurs when a parent, sibling or a relative renounces or no longer accepts a child or a relative as a family member. Disownment might be due to actions perceived as reprehensible or lead to severe emotional consequences. Different from ...

Quakers who were not eligible for Quaker education, Unable to find a site in the preferred area of

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

, Durham Friends sought the assistance of Thomas Richardson, a Quaker from

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

who had come to live in Great Ayton on his retirement in 1830. In 1841 the school was established "for the maintenance of 36 boys and the same number of girls belonging to or connected with the Society of Friends; others are admitted at a charge representing about the average cost of each child per annum. There was now accommodation for 80 boarders. The course of instruction embraces Latin, French, Euclid, Geometry, Algebra, and various scientific subjects: Agriculture, Chemistry, Physiology, Botany, etc. The girls are trained either for domestic work or a higher sphere of life".Bulmer's History, Topography, and Directory of North Yorkshire,1890. George Dixon was the first superintendent of the Quaker School, he also started a botanical class in the village for local residents, including lichenologist William A. Mudd, (1829-1879). An estate of nearly was purchased for the purposes of the school, and many additions were made to the premises. Disownment for 'marrying out' ended in 1854, and the school changed with the times, becoming the Friends' School. From 1935 to 1942, the school hosted nearly 40 refugees from the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

regime. The school gradually attracted greater numbers of pupils until there was no room large enough to contain all of the 300 pupils. In 1968 the

Meeting House A meeting house (also spelled meetinghouse or meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes private meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a: * chu ...

was enlarged to accommodate the complete student body. In 1991, the school adopted a more commercial approach. It dropped its named association with the Quakers and adopted the new name 'Ayton School'. It appointed a marketing manager to promote the school's facilities to the general public. The Friends School Great Ayton1

The school closed in 1997. Dwindling pupil numbers had given the trustees no other option but to close the school at the end of the term. The school's 50 teachers and other staff lost their jobs and the school's grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and its estate were put up for sale. During its 157-year history the school was attended by almost 7,500 pupils and employed 550 staff.

Present

The Friends school estate was sold to

Wimpey Homes George Wimpey Limited was a British construction firm that typically worked in the civil engineering and housebuilding markets. It was, during the 1970s, the largest homebuilder active in the UK. Established in 1880 and originally based in Ha ...

. Working with

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, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

and The Georgian Society, the company established a development with attempted sympathy to the local style and to the surrounding architecture. Many of the school's original features have been retained and the local wildlife and landscapes have been carefully managed. Wimpey built 63 properties on the grounds. The styles vary from the farmhouse family homes, to cottages and traditional three-storey town houses. In the Richardson School Hall, 21 apartments were sold. The Quakers in Great Ayton set aside part of the meeting house as an 'Old Scholars' room containing items selected by Old Scholars to be retained as mementoes of the School. The War Memorial plaque from the School dining room was placed there while the

memorial bench A memorial bench, memorial seat or death bench is a piece of outdoor furniture which commemorates a dead person. Such benches are typically made of wood, but can also be made of metal, stone, or synthetic materials such as plastics. Typically m ...

es remained in the meeting room.

References

External links

Ayton Old Scholars

Ayton School, photographs of Great Ayton
* {{authority control Grade II listed buildings in North Yorkshire Quaker schools in England Grade II listed educational buildings Educational institutions established in 1841 Educational institutions disestablished in 1997 Defunct schools in North Yorkshire 1841 establishments in England 1997 disestablishments in England Friends' School

History

Present

See also

References

Further reading

External links