Easterton School was closed in 1971 (as was Market Lavington School for both were replaced by St Barnabas School on Drove Lane). But Easterton School was soon demolished and new bungalows were built on its site.
Forty years on it is only middle aged people, and older who lived in the area back then who remember the building. A common comment when people see a picture of Easterton School is, ‘I didn’t know Easterton had a school’.
But indeed it did, from the 1870s, and those older residents remember it well with headmistress, Miss Windo at the helm.
We recently acquired a superb picture of the school building – much better than others we had before.
Easterton School in the early years of the twentieth century
The picture is not dated but from the clothing worn, we’ll suggest it is probably Edwardian – early 20th century.
The main building sports a bell tower – presumably a bell was rung to summon the children to school. That vanished before the end.
The building had two rooms – there is a break in roof level just this side of the bell tower. The older children were at one end and the younger ones at the other. Certainly in the 1950s – we do not know for how long before – youngsters transferred to the Market Lavington School at age 11 (or Devizes Grammar School if they passed). Of course, when the Lavington secondary school opened, neither of the two village schools had children older than 11.
Returning to the photo, the smaller building in front of the school and with the children in front of it was the toilet block. In keeping with the times, toilets were outside and separate from the main building.
We do not know who the people are. Maybe you can help us with that.
Tags: Easterton, Edwardian, Market Lavington, Museum, school
Market Lavington Museum 
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