Free School, Wootton Bassett
Click on a photograph to view it.
By his will of 1696 Richard Jones, of Nether Stowey in Somerset, left £300 to be invested for charitable purposes. The Trustees bought land in Haydon Wick and the income from this was used to pay a schoolmaster to teach writing, Latin and casting accounts to boys in Wootton Bassett. The school was possibly held in the market house. In 1752 the schoolmaster was Mr Dyer while in 1834 James Drake taught reading and writing to 18 boys with free places and to another 20 fee paying boys. By 1859 the school had fallen into disrepute and was closed. The boys were transferred to the National School and the income was given firstly to the National School and then divided between the National and British schools.