A New Testament

The Bible is reckoned to be one of the world’s most printed books with about six billion copies having come off the presses. Not all of these are in English, but it follows that it is an exceedingly common book.

It’s smaller ‘half’ – The New Testament – is also very common indeed. We’d only have such books in the museum here at Market Lavington if there was something a little bit special about them.

And here we have a New Testament.

A New Testament to be found at Market Lavington Museum

It really is a most unassuming copy but inside it is stamped with the mark of an owner.

This book once belonged to Wiltshire County Council, kept at the National School in Market Lavington

Yes, it belonged to the Wilts County Council National School at Market Lavington, or, to put it more simply, to Market Lavington School.

This was the school housed in what we now call ‘The Old School’ which is used as a community room, just below our museum.

Interestingly, all three aspects of that printed mark are now history. Since 1971 there has not been a ‘Market Lavington School’ by that name. The new school built just over forty years ago replaced both Market Lavington AND Easterton schools. It is sited in Market Lavington but was called Saint Barnabas School – the name also given to Easterton Church.

Of course, the phrase National School has vanished. They never were quite what they sounded. They were 19^th century schools founded by the ‘National Society for promoting Religious Education’. National Schools became church ‘voluntary aided’ or ‘voluntary controlled’ schools.

And Wilts or Wiltshire County Council no longer exists either. In a recent reorganisation and rebrand of local government, Wiltshire became a unitary authority and district councils were abolished. Presumably with no need to emphasise its county status, the new council became just ‘Wiltshire Council’.

So this little book carries a lot of history in its printed ownership name.

Tags: book, Easterton, Fiddington, Market Lavington, Museum, National School, New Testament