COPY OF AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE KNUTSFORD HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION’S JOURNAL.

Records turn up in strange places, and the following extract of Mr. Samuel Leigh’s will, was found amongst documents relating to Tatton.

A True Copy of such part of Mr. Samuel Leigh’s will as related to the legacy given to Ollerton, dated 19^th November, 1690.

“Item. I give and baqueath out of my personal estate the full sum of £100 for or towards the maintenance of a School within the Township of Ollerton upon such comdition and in such manner to be employed and disposed as is hereinafter mentioned (that is to say) Upon condition nevertheless that the Inhabitants of the said Township of Ollerton do and shall at their own proper cost and charges within the space of Three years nest after my decease, erect and build a Schoolhouse in some convenient place within the said town, the Walls to be of Brick and set with Lime Mortar and to be Eight yards long and Sixteen foot wide within the Walls and to be Eleven foot high on the Wall and to be floored all over and the said upper floor to be boarded and to have a fireplace both above and below and the Roof Timber floor to be Treed and Joyned, to be all of Oakwood and that as soon as the said Building is so erected and finished so that a Schoolmaster or Mistress may dwell therin my executors shall forthwith pay the aforesaid sum of £100 to the then Chappel Warden and two other sufficient persons of the said Town, and that the said £100 shall be laid forth upon lands of Inheritance as soon as it can and in the meantime put forth at Interest and the yearly profitt of the lands or interest of the same money shall be yearly paid to such schoolmaster or mistress and shall be settled there for that use, and the Stock to remain for ever. And my will is that the poorer sort of Children within the township of Ollerton shall in consideration thereof be taught to read well the Bible and instructed in such catechism as is most for the benefit and advantage of such children in the knowledge of God and principles of Religion. If the schoolmaster or mistress chosen should afterwards prove unfit for the care and education of the children or grow idle or negligent in the calling or be inclined to drinking swearing and bad company to the dishonour of Almighty God and ill example of others that then the Chappel Warden and Trustees shall give the said schoolmaster or mistress a Half years warning to provide for themselves. At the end of the said half year shall withhold the said interest and profit from the said schoolmaster or mistress and pay the same to such other person as shall be next chosen. My will and mind is that the Schoolmaster or mistress shall keep the schoolhouse in good repair to the satisfaction of the trustees, or the trustees shall put the school house in good repair with interest from the said Stock and make account to the schoolmaster of what they have laid out and it shall be the Trustees discharge.

My will and mind is that if the inhabitants of the township of Ollerton neglect to build the Schoolhouse within the three years next after my decease my executors shall pay the sum of £50 unto the Trustees of my said Father John Leigh for the setting up of the poor children within the Parish of Lymm to learn to read in the same manner as the said John Leigh hath exprest in his deed in writing and from thenceforth the Township of Ollerton shall be barred from laying claim to the same.

Item. I give all those of my Books to be a library in the School of Ollerton that I have given the names in a Note under my hand to Thomas Baguley Shopkeeper of Nether Knutsford. Item. I give £10 to be put out at interest and the money to be employed for the buying of Books for Poor Children at the School.

Item. I give the sum of £10 in lieu of Dole at my wife’s and my funeral to be put out at interest and used for the benefit of the poor of Ollerton at Martinmas and Candlemas at the discretion of the Chappel Warden and Overseers”.

Transcribed by Kath. Goodchild. April, 1981