Dame Schools, Broad Town
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In 1846 there was a dame school which was attended by nine children. Dame schools were private schools, usually taught in the home of women in the community, as a way to supplement their income. Some children also attended schools in Broad Hinton and Clyffe Pypard.
There was another dame school in 1858 which taught 20 children. This is referred to in Warburton's Census of Wiltshire Schools thus: 'e mistress was a cripple and her husband, an old soldier, lived in open adultery with a woman hired to attend his wife; and two infants, the issue of the adultery, are in the school, which at times, is disturbed by the wrangling and foul language of the wife and the concubine.' By January 1859 the mistress was dead and the school was no more.
There was another dame school in 1858 which taught 20 children. This is referred to in Warburton's Census of Wiltshire Schools thus: 'e mistress was a cripple and her husband, an old soldier, lived in open adultery with a woman hired to attend his wife; and two infants, the issue of the adultery, are in the school, which at times, is disturbed by the wrangling and foul language of the wife and the concubine.' By January 1859 the mistress was dead and the school was no more.