Introduction
This article is being created in sections, as & when time permits.
Children and schooling in the Ribblehead area navvy settlements
Many of the migrant workers building the Settle & Carlisle Railway travelled with their families. In locations close to towns & villages, their children could attend a local school, but this was not possible everywhere. Contemporary newspaper accounts give us an insight into how this situation was managed in the remote area around Ribblehead:
Lancaster Guardian, 23rd July 1870
"As Batty Green and Sebastopol are constantly increasing in adult and juvenile population, it is in contemplation to procure newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals for their instruction, and to open day and Sunday schools for the rising generation."
Lancaster Guardian, 21st October 1871
"There is much said about children having a national right to be educated, but there is a poor chance of the intellects of the rising generation being cultivated in this locality. Very few of the children at Sebastopol and none of them at Jericho and the tunnel huts go to either the day or Sunday school at Batty Green. The distance, badness of the road, and the wetness of the road is a barrier to this. Groups of children here and there were sitting on the moor, which must, on account of its swampy condition, be very injurious to their health. Surely the Midland Company might do something towards the education of these neglected children, who through circumstances of the workmen are deprived of the educational advantages of towns and villages."
Lancaster Guardian, 10th August 1872
"At the tunnel huts ... There is a day school ..., and it is said to be well attended. No one can pass over these railway works without remarking the great number of children."
Daily News (London), 29th October 1872
"The 'parson,' as most called him, was plodding, his muddy way up through Jerico [sic], past the barracks 'up tunnel, and so to Denthead at the opening into the further valley, to uplift the 'school money,' and bring it back to the treasury. Mr. Ashwell has organized a school system along his contract. At Batty Wife-hole there is a schoolmaster, and at Jericho and Sebastopol schoolmistresses. A nominal school fee is charged, and he sustains the rest of the expense."
Acknowledgements
The text from the Lancaster Guardian was manually transcribed from a 35mm microfilm copy of the newspaper by Mark R. Harvey during a visit to Lancaster Library on July 10th, 2007.
The transcript from the Daily News was produced by Mark R. Harvey from a digitised version of the newspaper accessed via the British Newspaper Archive (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/).