St Mary's Church Hall

Image: © Neil Owen Taken: 14 Dec 2016

Bitton's principal meeting hall, nowadays the village hall but originally a school house. See Image] for a stone tablet. Bitton had a record of poor education provision in the nineteenth century; the Lady Chapel of St Mary's church was used for teaching but was thought insufficient. Following public subscriptions and a grant from the National Society, a sum of £360 was used to build this school. It opened to boys (only!) of 5-12 in 1831, demanding an entrance fee of 6d, with reading 2d, reading and writing 3d, with reading writing and ciphering at 4d. The school later admitted girls, but a new school was built in the early 1900s; the parishioners again donated funds to buy the hall for the villagers' needs, which it fulfils to this day.

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