From Chicklade And Pertwood, A Short Parish History by E.R. Barty, M.A., Chicklade, Old Rectory, first published December 1955:
THE SCHOOL
The school was built by the Rev. J.C. Faber and bears the date 1848 above the door. Before that date, as we have seen, the church occasionally paid for “schooling”; probably the children went to Hindon or Tisbury.
The Rev. J.C. Faber also built the cottage next to the school (on the east side). Above the back door is a crest (a hand raised, holding a torch), the initials J.C.F. and the date 1867. Probably this was the school house. The parish pump still stands nearby.
We have a little information about the school from Kelly’s Directory:-
1855 A Free School. Mrs. Holden, schoolmistress.
1867 The school chiefly supported by the Rector. Mrs. Ann Helps, schoolmistress.
1875 The school chiefly supported by voluntary contributions.
1881 The Infant School built in 1848 for 30 children. Average attendance 12. Supported by voluntary contributions, Mrs. Doughty, Mistress. The elder children attend Hindon National School.
We are not able to state in what year the school was closed. In 1881 the attendance averaged 12 and in 1892 the question arose as to what was to become of the school building.
Vestry, Easter 1892. “The Rector was requested to communicate with Willm. Faber Esq. and with the landowners of the parish as to the possession and maintenance of the building formerly used as a school, now used as a Reading Room and Vestry Hall.’
Vestry, Easter 1894. The Rector reported that the building formerly used as a school had been duly conveyed by the representatives of the late J.C. Faber to the Salisbury Diocesan Board of Finance. Mr. Halliday had generously promised to bear all expenses incurred in putting the building into repair. It is sad to think that the school had such a short life and that the number of children in the village became so small but we may console ourselves, perhaps, by the knowledge that a school could no longer be carried on in the old building owing to the dangers of the highway and the high speed of modern motor traffic through the village. It is unfortunate, however, that the building cannot be kept in repair and put to some good use beyond the very occasional Parish Meetings.
I met an old pupil of the school a short time ago. Let us call him “Harry.” He told me that the Schoolmistress of his day lived at Berwick and walked over the hill each day – and so, probably, down the Chimney (Lundy’s Lane) into Chicklade. “Many a hiding I got,” said Harry, and when one was told that an ink-pot was thrown at the schoolmistress someone certainly deserved “a hiding.” Perhaps boys took their punishment in good part in the old days, knowing they deserved it; and when it was over, forgot all about it.
The School.