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Books by FM Wisson

Abbotsley

FM Wisson

Fernanda Wisson lives in Abbotsley, and supports the village by periodically holding photographic exhibitions in the local village hall. She has a very large collection of photographs, old and new, which span over 100 years. The royalties from this book goes to support the Village Hall and Abbotsley Church.

The village of Abbotsley is situated along the road from Great Gransden to St Neots, its nearest Market Town. It is 16 miles from Bedford, about 15 from Cambridge and 60 from London. It was, until 1973, part of Huntingdonshire but after the reorganisation which took place throughout England, it became part of Cambridgeshire.

Abbotsley

FM Wisson

ISBN 1-902869-18-4

Price £9.99

Abbotsley

These National Society schools were formed in 1811 and gradually replaced most of the schools founded, in 1698, by the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. Dame Schools were also very common in England until 1870 and they were run by women and the pupils generally paid a weekly fee of 3d. or 4d. The term ‘Dame School’ was found in a passage about Abbotsley but we are afraid it just said ‘... there is a Dame School in Abbotsley …’ and we have lost the origin of the source. An unforgivable sin for a ‘historian’!! In 1870, however, the Education Act came into force and this provided that sufficient elementary schools should be set up in all areas and should be managed by Boards. These were the first ‘Local Authority’ run schools and for a time they were supplementary to the voluntary, privately endowed schools. They were secular and undenominational. We can be sure that this is the way Abbotsley school slowly developed even if we cannot be sure of how it originated!

(An excert from the book)