How Yeardsley Hall would have appeared originally.

 

Most of the large houses in the 1400s period were built on the capital H principle, the two uprights would have had a floor on the top. The cross piece would have been the main hall. , There were few chimneys prior to the 12th century, the fire in the larger houses being in the centre of the floor, the smoke escaping through doors and holes in the roof; hence "sluttish soote, a whole inch thick". The evolution of the manor house followed (13century onward). The most striking feature was the open-roofed hall. One notices the two wings each of two stories; solar near to the chapel or part of it; domestic offices, buttery, pantry, etc; hall with hearth in middle. Men servants, soldiers, slept on rushes in the hall. Other rooms gradually evolved leading from the hall and solar until the building became complex; it grew rather than designed. The hall was next devided, and became of less importance after the 11th century, except as a living room, until eventually the word hall was only used for the entrance lobby. The Solar became the drawing room.

Miss Turner's Schooldays

 

 FURNESS VALE

Before Furness Vale school was opened in 1877, the owner of Furness Printworks - a Mr. Saxby - kept a school for the children of his employees in a building near Lodge Farm, adjoining the Printworks. There was a room above used as a church. This would be about 1875 or 1876 and the "Dame" who managed the school was a Miss Eyres. Mr. Goodwin took over this school and moved into the new Board school when it was ready.

Our summer holiday in 1940, the year after war broke out, was shortened to three weeks as children were considered safer at school! We had very wet weather during the holidays and on our return brilliant sun. We felt so cheated that each day we took our furniture out and did lessons in the yard. It was so very hot many children could not stand it and put on hats or used their individual hand towels, sometimes with weird results. Later, air-raid shelters were built in the yard and we had little or no play space.

I was always given a young men assistant when I was Head at Furness 1 had boys up to 14, and a man had always been Head before. The man I had as an assistant when we were a Cheshire school was always someone who had been through College but failed finals. He had to take his exam again and on passing was moved on as the Cheshire authority would not pay certificated salary for a man assistant. I never took P.T. with the boys, but did most of the garden of which we were very proud. The boys made the bird bath and flagged paths, and the garden was always self-supporting.