Brixton Deverill schoolroom

Built on the side of the rectory, the village schoolroom was opened in 1823 with the aid of a £40 grant from teh Treasury. Before that date, the children of the village had had to attend classes in neighbouring parishes with teh aid of charitable donations. There were 19 children attending - 11 boys and 8 girls - in 1835, which had risen to almost 50 by 1858, when the village was near its peak population. After that, the numbers of children attending the school declined, and it was closed in 1895, after which the village's children once again had to travel to neighbouring parishes.
It is possible that the schoolroom was in use as a village reading room during the early 20th century; by 1965 it was in disuse and infested with rats. It has now been re-incorporated into the house, which is now a private residence.
Content derived from research undertaken as part of the Victoria County History project