Baines Endowed School

Thornton Endowed  School was built c1717 by James Baines on Thornton Marsh.  It was a small single storey building built facing the road with a cobbled floor and a house for the School Master.

James Baines was a successful woollen draper who lived in the Marketplace in Poulton-le-Fylde and who strongly believed that all

Baines Endowed School

children should receive an education regardless of their background.  In his will dated 6th of January 1717, he entrusted the school and the grounds to Peter Woodhouse, along with six other trustees, which according to the will should be used forever as a free school for the children of Thornton. 

He also endowed the school with about 21 acres of land in Carleton whose income was to pay the salary of a School Master.  The Trustees, Master and farmers met each year on

Baines Endowed School - 1892

the 2nd of February when the farmers paid their rent and the Trustees paid the Master.  In accordance with James Baines' will, 10 shillings of this income was to be set aside each year to provide a dinner for the Trustees, although this was not always taken.

In 1817 the original school house was demolished and a new one was built on the same site by public subscription at a cost of around £100.  This second school house still retained the original cobbled floor and was heated by an open fire on

Baines Endowed School - 1932

the west wall.  School hours were 7am till 11am and 1pm till 5pm, in winter school started an hour later and finished an hour earlier.

A further endowment of £500 was received in 1847 from the will of Mr James Simpson towards the costs and maintenance of the school.  In 1848 the trustees used this money to build School Farm on the endowed land in Carleton to provide additional rent.

Classmates in 1936

Photograph kindly Donated

In 1870 the Elementary Education Act was introduced which required children of 5-10 years of age to attend a school.  The trustees struggled to find the funds to bring the school up to the standards set by the Education Department until in 1879 they were forced to borrow the money.  The school reopened as a Public Elementary School in March of 1881 and for a short time the school decided to start charging fees.  Thornton 'Free' School now became Thornton with Fleetwood Endowed School or Thornton Endowed School as it was known.

Further alterations were needed in 1908 and to meet the costs the Trustees borrowed £900 secured against School Farm.  The school changed its name once more in 1928 to Thornton Cleveleys Baines’ Endowed School and continued to expand.  By 1951 the trustees could no longer meet the cost and the school became a voluntary controlled school. 

Today Baines Endowed School is still providing an education to the children of Thornton although it no longer has a connection to any particular church.  The trustees of the Baines Trust still meet at the school once a year and provide financial help for new projects such as building works, music bursaries and provide the book prizes for the annual Awards Day.  Many changes have been made over the centuries but, almost 300 years later, under one of the classrooms still lies the original cobbled floor of the first little school house.