| Description | Darnhall school was founded and endowed by Thomas Lee of Darnhall by a deed of 20 May 1699. The money invested had been given to him in trust by his mother Elizabeth Venables in order to maintain a school master or mistress to teach the youth of Darnhall in the parishes of Whitegate and Over and the township of Weaver. The school was maintained under a system of trustees, one of whom was always the lord of the manor of Darnhall; this was sold by Thomas Lee's grandson to William Corbett in 1744. The estate of the school was in Newton by Tattenhall and the school itself was in Darnhall on a piece of land known as Jackson's Croft. In 1803 the school was moved by Thomas Corbett, son of William Corbett, to Darnhall School Lane so as to be nearer the more populous parts of the parishes. In 1867 a schools enquiry commission reported that its average attendance was 60 boys, it was "very inefficient" and "nothing more than a parish school". It closed for a time during the 19th century and re-opened in 1894 as a mixed school for 230 children. |