Farmor's School- 280 years serving the community

It was on 24th November that year when Farmor’s School opened its doors and started to better educate the people of Fairford.

That has remained its purpose, aim and achievement for 280 years.

It is a school that prides itself on its contribution to the local area, and the education it has provided has certainly enriched the town and the villages it serves, and its influence has spread, through its pupils and their education, across the globe.

The second of three consecutive Georges sat on the throne, and across in continental Europe, chaos was about to erupt with all the great nations going to war with each other, and within a couple or so years, the Scots and the Young Pretender were on the march into England.

The industrial revolution was not even a dream, and most people in rural Gloucestershire were agricultural labourers, but each village and small town had their own array of skilled workers, carpenters, smiths, retailers, builders, craftsmen and other essential services which ensured a high degree of self-sufficiency.

The roads were no more than tracks, used by drovers and the mail coach, and each community was far more isolated from each other than today.

It was a time when a mini ice-age encompassed Britain, with frost-fairs on the frozen River Thames in London, and the chilling effects would have been felt even more harshly in the countryside.

The Thames was, like all rivers large and small, a major part of an enduring transportation system, except when they froze over.

Education was improving, it was the Age of Enlightenment, and schooling was moving from the church Sunday Schools, the education of the wealthy and charitable establishments to a more formalised approach.

It was in this environment that Elizabeth Farmor opened her school, situated prominently in Fairford’s main street, and next to its church.

Elizabeth was a descendant of the Barker family, who had come to Fairford at the end of the English Civil War and had built his great house in Fairford Park.

By strange coincidence the current school now stands where the house once stood.

There had been earlier legacies to provide education facilities in Fairford and in 1701 Mary Barker, daughter of Andrew Barker, Lord of the Manor of Fairford, left money for investment to raise funds for teaching poor boys to read and write. Elizabeth Farmor was the grand-daughter of Andrew Barker.

Elizabeth left £1,000 in her will, specifically to build a school and pay a schoolmaster.

The school had accommodation for 60 boys, aged between 5 and 12, and if Fairford did not fill all the places, numbers were made up from the surrounding villages.

Initially the building consisted of a schoolmaster's house and 2 classrooms with a cellar and outbuildings including a brewhouse and a well in the rear yard.

From the beginning there were close ties with the neighbouring St. Mary's Church and the schoolmaster was required to conduct a Sunday school, and in return the Vicar gave Scripture lessons at the school. The school building was also used for Church meetings out of school hours.

The school was a great success but was only open for the education of boys.

However, following some protracted issues, girls were admitted for the first time in 1815.

The school buildings were extended to take in the girls, but it was totally segregated and run separately by a School mistress.

The boys' accommodation was then on the first floor and approached by an outside staircase while the yard was divided by a stone wall into separate areas for boys and girls.

In 1871, the funds from Lady Jane Mico's charity of 1670 to provide apprenticeships for "Four poore boys" were amalgamated with those from Mary Barker and Elizabeth Farmor and formed a new educational charity which still continues today.

The separate schools for boys and girls were combined under one Headmaster, Mr. Herbert Hedges in 1922.

A plaque on the school wall pays tribute to the remarkable service of Mr. Hedges, who served as Headmaster of the school for 25 years.

A second plaque commemorates an earlier Headmaster, Richard Green, who died in 1767, recording "the uncommon assiduity and abilities with which he discharged the duties of his profession".

By the late 1950’s the existing building was bulging at its seams.

Every day a crocodile of marching pupils would be seen in Fairford, as they walked from the main building to their lunches, that were taken in the old Baptist & Congregational Chapel in The Croft, to their woodwork, domestic science, art and music classes in the prefabs adjoining the Primary School, and even further to the playing fields down at Coln House School adjoining Horcott Road.

Clearly the school, now housing some 360 pupils, wasn’t big enough.

New school premises were built in Fairford Park, where Andrew Barker’s great house once stood.

They were new premises, but not a new school, the existing school had merely moved a few hundred yards.

There have been many pivotal moments in the School’s past, but this was the big one.

Gone were the days of mud-plastered pupils traipsing through the town and then washing themselves down in the toilet sinks.

Gone were the days of a van-loads of pre-cooked meals turning up at The Croft. Now the School had its own kitchen facilities and the food quality, and taste, improved dramatically.

Less so for any budding ornithologist, as no longer could birds be seen in the rafters above the dining area, ready to pounce on any unprotected scrap of food.

Instead the new premises had its own library, custom-built science room, fully equipped woodwork and domestic science classrooms.

It boasted its own playing fields, gymnasium and showers.

It was truly the moment the School was transformed from an 18th Century establishment into something worthy of the 21st Century.

What it did not leave behind was its ethos and tradition of providing exceptional teaching and education for the area and community it served.

At this time the School was divided into four Houses, named Farmor and Barker after their earlier benefactors, with Tame, named after John Tame, a wool merchant and the person responsible for rebuilding the magnificent church that stood next to the original school, and John Keble who came from a family of religious ministers, and who himself was one-time minister at Eastleach.

He lived in Fairford and penned several hymns that are still used in the Anglican Church.

Farmor’s School now has Academy status, and with its catchment area now much wider, has a little over 1,000 pupils enrolled there.

The head is Matthew Evans, who carries on the great traditions of head teachers at the school.

In celebration of its 280 years as a focal point for Fairford and the surrounding area, the School will be having a Reunion for all former pupils and staff on Saturday 24th November 2018, which will be held in the School premises.

It will be themed from the 1950’s through to the present day, so those attending will be able to identify where their former school-pals will be in amongst the throng.

There will be displays of photographs and memorabilia, and it should be a memorable day for many who still take pride in Farmor’s and the education it gave them.

It is expected that a booklet will be produced to commemorate the event, and if you have any stories, photographs, anecdotes etc that you would like to be considered for publication, they should be forwarded to Richard Staniforth at rmdf@btinternet.com or the Farmor’s School Facebook site, by 1st July at the latest.

In conjunction with the Reunion, there is now a dedicated Facebook page ‘Memories of Farmor’s’ where former staff and pupils can add their memories or read of others.

Acknowledgements to Fairford Historical Society for their assistance in preparing this article.