Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

The revenues of this Institution have lately been much increased, and with the assistance of additional donations which it has received, a very substantial building of brick, roofed with slate, has been erected. It contains a large school-room, and commodious apartments for the master and mistress; and thus the trustees are enabled to add eight scholars to the original foundation. In front of the building is the following inscription cut in stone over the

entrance:

CHARITY SCHOOL,

founded for 14 poor boys and 14 poor girls by Thomas Tenison late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, March 25, 1714. This present school house was built in 1791, and 1792, with a legacy of £500, bequeathed by Mr. James Jenner, and also £300, by Mr. William Heathfield, of London, and donations by the Rev. John Heathfield, of Northaw, in the county of Hertford, and other charitable persons.

Besides the foundations of Archbishop Whitgift and Tenison, there are in Croydon two schools supported by private subscriptions of the inhabitants. The first was established at a general meeting held at the Crown Inn, on the 30th September 1812, for the purpose of consulting for the elementary education of the

poor upon the Lancastrian System. This charity is supported by voluntary subscriptions and donations, and its benefits are extended to the children of all indigent parents, whatever their religious persuasions may be.

The second was instituted at a general assembly of the parishioners in the church, on the 30th November 1812, the Rev. Dr. Ireland, Vicar, in the chair. This school was designed to be conducted upon the system of Dr. Bell, for the benefit of poor children, to be educated in the principles of the Church of England as taught in the Bible and Book of Common Prayer; the children being required to attend regularly on Sundays the service of the church. This establishment is also supported by the bounty of the inhabitants *.

A School of Industry was established at Croydon a few years since for poor girls, and is supported by the subscriptions of the ladies in the Town. A commodious building has been erected for its purposes, and the children are taught reading, needle-work, &c.

* Upon this subject we must not omit to mention the benevolence of Mrs. Beeston Long, of Coombe, who educates and clothes the children of several poor families at her own

cost.

T

A Sunday School had been long established for children of both sexes in the parish, who were taught to read, and required to attend the church on the Sabbath, day; the chapel at the palace was used as their place of instruction. It was supported by charitable donations, and a collection received after an annual sermon preached at the church. Since the establishment of the national school, and school of industry, it has been incorporated with them; the boys going to the former, and the girls to the latter.

There are also in the town numerous private schools for young children, and several most respectable boarding schools for young ladies and gentlemen.

The society of Friends have also established two schools at Croydon, for boys of their persuasion.

At Addiscombe, the East India Company have established a seminary for their Cadets, who are taught Fortification, Gunnery, and other military acquirements, with oriental languages.

CHAP. X.

The Work House.

Of this institution there is little to be said; that little, however, is sufficient to put the reader in possession of its history.

The Work House of Croydon resembles most others in its plan and regulations, which, if uniformly carried into effect (and we are willing to believe this to be the case), must conduce at once to the health, comfort, and morals of the poor, whom it receives under its protection.

It is a neat commodious building, situated on Duppa's* (Dupper's, or Dubber's) Hill, to the westward of the town, near Haling meadow.

* In the Chron. Sax. p. 37, 1. 42, I meet with one Eoppa Presbyter, quem Rex Wulfinus misit (anno 656) ad prædicandum Christianismum in vecta. And a little further, p. 39, 1. 34, Eoppa item Presbyter Wifferdi jussu ac Wulferi Regis, primum omnium obtulit Whitwaris baptismum. Perhaps it should be called Eopa's Hill. Ducarel.

The building was erected about the year 1727. It appears that on the 16th of February, 1726, at a vestry meeting held at Croydon, it was ordered and unanimously agreed by the Parishioners then assembled, that the Churchwardens, and Overseers of the poor, together with the several others then named, or any seven of them, should from time to time inspect, and look into, and act, for the benefit, and in behalf of the parish, in erecting a work house within the parish, for settling and providing for the poor, who were grown very mumerous; and that they should superintend all matters relating to the said work house and poor; and that what they or any seven of them should do in pursuance of the resolutions then made, should be always binding upon the parish.

Upon the 22d of the same month, another meeting was held for the purpose of considering where a convenient spot might be found within the parish, for the erection of the work house. The persons who thus assembled were at length informed, that there was a small piece of land at Dubbers Hill, which was in the year 1619 by deed (inter alia) given by Sir William Walter to the inhabitants of Croydon, for the purpose of digging gravel for mending the parish roads, and other public

« PredošláPokračovať »