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The Reverend John Athawes senior, founded a National School in Loughton and gave the loan of a cottage, sometime around 1848, for about 60 children to be educated. The Lord of the Manor, H B Whitworth, supported him in this work.

Local tradition has it that two of the upstairs rooms in Elm House, near the church, were also used as school rooms. Elm House, which was built between 1820 and 1830, is shown here.

The villagers were obviously determined to see that their children received a good education, and by 1867 they had raised money, by various means, to build a proper school house.

Construction. Click here to see how the school was built.