Mrs Miles' School, Dauntsey

By 1833 there was another school in the parish, probably a dame school, which was a small school taught by women, often in their own homes, to earn a little money. In 1833 this school taught 40 girls but by 1858 the number of pupils had fallen to between 20 and 30 pupils. The Warburton report (1858) says, ‘. . . . a mile from the church. It is a small low-thatched building (attached to the “shop” of the village), with board floor and vis-à-vis desks. There are about 20 to 30 mixed scholars, under a mistress, a person of very fair address.’ Mrs Miles was the wife of the lord of the manor in the late 1850s and 1860s and doubtless supported the school financially and took a great interest in it. The school was at Dauntsey Green and probably closed around the time the new National school was opened in 1864.