Widdale School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There used to be 12 farms in Widdale, and 9 more in Snaizholme. A century ago they were all occupied.

In 1881 Matilda Harvey was the schoolteacher of Widdale School and there were 18 children whose ages ranged from 5 to 14. On Sundays the families would go to Chapel there. This little building on the roadside would have been the centre for this scattered Community.

The building is a schoolroom with an adjoining teacher’s house. The date over the door is 1856. In May 1863 it belonged to George Terry of Askrigg, he sold it to Richard Allen, a Deacon of Hawes Congregational Church.

Two years later “17 had met at Widdale, willing to form a branch of the church there.” This was in place of cottage services which had been taking place in various farmhouses for several years. By 19 14 the majority of preachers were Methodists, and since 1912 it has been a Methodist Church.

The Day School was a voluntary school until about 1900, when it was leased to the Hawes School Board. After the Education Act of 1902 it passed to the North Riding County Council.

In the summer of 1930 there were 19 children and one teacher, Maude Rand. In June, Isabella Burton left school aged 14 and the other 18 were not far behind her in age. At the end of term a month later the school closed and from September the local children were taken to Hawes School by bus.

The teacher’s house was occupied by a succession of tenants until 1984.