Author Margaret Dowland
The school we all know about is Antingham and Southrepps in Lower Street except it’s not in Lower Street at all. The parish boundary runs down the middle of the road and the school is in Antingham (Except in the 1901 census when the school porch was shown as being in Southrepps). We have however included its history as it is Antingham AND Southrepps School and you can read it here.
We do know that there has been at least one private if not two private schools in Upper Street. We do not know the location or much about them. Information discovered so far suggests that there may have been a private school as early as the 1660s, in what is now Church Farm Cottage in the large purpose, built upstairs room. The dates of the construction of the cottage, its location near to the church, architectural features in the building and the school teachers listed in the church books give credence to this. This would have been a school to educate the children of the wealthier families of the parish not those of the poor. In William Cubitt’s biography, who lived in Southrepps in 1790, says he was educated in the local village school and was friendly with the curate, that possibly adds credence to the possibility of this being a school.
Research done for Penny Clarke in 2004, by Paul Rutledge of the Norfolk historic Buildings group, found The Norfolk Subscription Book (1937) by EH Carter which lists school masters in Southrepps. These were employed by Norwich diocese.
1662 John Webald who taught grammar.
1689 Carolus Gostling grammar and mathematics
1720/1 Osbert Mins reading writing and arithmetic.
In 1800 Edward Farr is recorded as living in Southrepps with profession of schoolmaster, but where he taught is uncertain. This was too early for Antingham and Southrepps School.
There is an entry in the 1841 census for Elizabeth Pell schoolmistress. From 1851-1871 Suzannah Howes of Lower Street is listed as a school mistress. Did she teach in Upper Street? Certainly not at Antingham and Southrepps.
Sarah Burborough is listed in Kellys directory in 1869 as a school teacher of the Parish School in Southrepps, but again there is no hint of the location of her school. However we do know she did not teach at Antingham and Southrepps School.
1883 Whites directory lists Miss Chappell as Board schoolmistress. There was not a board school in Southrepps.
Mary Young in 1974 identified Gables farmhouse as the site of one of the private schools. The school was thought to be run by Miss Mary Newman who lived at the Gables with her sister Barbara Hewitt and husband Arthur Hewitt . The 1891 census records both Mary and Barbara as school teachers. In 1881 Mary at 14 was working as a teacher in a board school in North Walsham. In 1901 she is an assistant teacher in a Board school in North Walsham. The 1911 and 1921 censuss do not list her occupation. This was when she was living at Gables farm. She died in 1939.