Petrockstowe One Place Genealogy

The school was built in 1842 by Lord Clinton at a cost of £700. The building was used for village functions for many years. The school was closed in 1962 and demolished in 1966 being unsafe it is now the site of the Baxter Hall Carpark. A stone from the old building dated 1842 remains in the walling outside the Baxter Hall.

1866 – 1870 it was granted listed. In 1870 It was still common for monitors to provide the only assistant staff.

In 1871 a pupil was dismissed at Petrockstow when detected spitting through the key hole of the classroom door in the face of one of the pupils.

Lady Clinton (helped by Lady Alice Nelson)in 1885 organised penny dinners in the nearby coffee tavern (now the Laurels Inn) The grandson of the headmaster tells how the boys hated her insistence of their eating slices of plain bread with their helpings of rice pudding.

The school was given an acre of ground in 1930 for a playing area and in 1932 the playground was tarred and in 1933 new toilets were built.

1962 saw the closer of the school owing to its bad state of repair and in 1966 it was demolished.

From the closure until the new school opened at Merton in 1963 the old village Hall was used as a classroom.

Below is list of some of the masters and mistresses of Petrockstow School sourced from Commercial Directories.

The Village School

A class of 1914 ~ Click for Enlargement

A Teacher from 1914 If anyone can help with names for any of the people in these photos, please email us