Lynch's School, Whiteparish

In 1639 James Lynch gave 30 acres, producing an income of £9 a year, to establish a free school for boys. These were to be of the poorer sort of children and they were to be instructed in 'writing, reading and the casting up of accounts'. There were to be no more than 20 boys. It is likely that for the 17th and 18th centuries the vicar was the master and he paid an assistant to do most of the teaching. In 1818 thirty boys were being taught by a master who was paid £36 a year. Demand for education outstripped the space available for, in 1831, the younger boys were being taught on Sundays and the older ones on weekdays so that more boys could attend. The vicar diapproved of this but was overruled by the other trustees. In 1835 the school was described as 'a mean building' near the church at the junction of 3 roads. The boys were transferred to the new church school when it opened in 1842.