It was one of three schools set up in Baines' will,[2] the others being at Marton[3] and Thornton.[4]teaching around 100 pupils without charging fees. Baines will also provided payments to the poor of the area andapprenticeships.[5]
^"A free school was founded, in 1717, by James Baines, who endowed it with land now producing an income of £69 per annum : a master and an usher are elected annually, and the number of children instructed varies from eighty to one hundred and twenty. The founder likewise bequeathed land, of the present value of £100 a year, for apprenticing poor children of this parish."Samuel Lewis (1842),A topographical dictionary of England, London: S. Lewis and Co.,OL19164487M Page 265
^"The free school of Poulton, date 1717, is endowed with £69. per annum; that of Marton, date 1717, with £91. per annum; Thornton, 1717, £31. per annum; founder of the three James Baines; who also left a munificent bequest, now £100. yearly, to the poor, and for apprenticing their children."Edwin Butterworth (1841),A statistical sketch of the County Palatine of Lancaster (A statistical sketch of the County Palatine of Lancaster. ed.), London: Longman,OL18197789M Page 106
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