High Court battle between Yorkshire Dales villagers and Church of England over ownership of old school will rely on 19th-century documents as evidence

Rathmell Old School, near Settle, was founded in 1716 and the surviving building dates from the 1870s, but in 2017 the school closed after pupil numbers dwindled. The trustees of the charity, which was set up with funds from a local landowner whose descendants still live in the area today, have since run the building as a community centre, while the old schoolmaster’s house is now rented to tenants.

The school was never affiliated to the Church or sited on land owned by them, yet in the 1950s the Diocese of Leeds granted it Voluntary Aided status and began making financial contributions to its running. This intervention led to attempts after the school’s closure to seize the property from the trustees on the basis that the Diocese had ownership rights.

The trustees have hotly contested this – yet were shocked to be served legal papers in June after negotiations with the Diocese’s finance board fizzled out. They are now preparing for a High Court hearing, likely to be held in Leeds, in which both parties will rely on centuries-old documents to prove their case.

According to trustee Jacky Frankland, the charity can now demonstrate ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that it owns the assets. She has found deeds dated 1868, when benefactor Christopher Geldard of Cappleside House wrote to the predecessor of the Charity Commission for his trust scheme to be issued. At the time, the vicar and local farmers were to run three parish charities and the school, with no mention of religious education. A further document she uncovered from the National Archives referred to the original schoolhouse, which was in trustee ownership, and its replacement in 1874 with a new building with no Church contribution and the same trust in place.

Meanwhile the Diocese’s evidence bundle, which has been submitted to the trustees, includes a ‘barely legible’ memorial document from 1842, detailing the Geldard family’s founding of a Sunday school to teach home crafts to girls, and a further deed dated 1857 referring to the Geldards’ bequest of a property for the local curate.

Yet Mrs Frankland argues that neither document actually relates to the correct charity or building.

"Our charity was for the education of boys in reading and writing. The Sunday school was to teach girls to sew and knit, and was always held in the chapel, never the school. The 1857 document describes a ‘substantial’ house much bigger than our schoolmaster’s house. We think it is referring to the old vicarage on the same lane.”

In a call with representatives of the Diocese in 2021, the trustees claim that they were offered a ‘peppercorn’ lease to continue to use the Old School if they signed over the property. After asking for more details of the proposal, they heard nothing further about it.

"The three of us got the court papers on June 8, but they were date stamped March 6. It was completely out of the blue. We initially had 14 days to respond, and we didn’t even have a solicitor. We were then given a further 14 days and we now have until August 7 to respond. They are also applying for costs from us.

"The support has been amazing, the parish council is behind us. We need £30,000 for legal fees and have raised £5,000 so far. The school was not built with Church money and it is not on Church land. The village has nothing else and this is just wrong.”

Tony Maguire, who owns a small business renting office space in the Old School, said: “You could build 16 cottages on that site for almost a seven-figure sum if the Diocese sold it to a developer. Living yards away is a 99-year-old retired farmer who attends every Sunday lunch and event at the school and who met his wife when she was teaching there during the war. The three trustees are ordinary people – bus driver, farmer’s wife – and they’ve never experienced anything like this.

"They are gritty, independent individuals who don’t like being pushed around. The village is up in arms. It’s a thriving hub, with fitness and craft classes, in a place with no pub, shop, post office, street lights or even footpaths. The same people fighting today are from the families whose names are on the war memorial.”

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Leeds said: “Numerous attempts to resolve this matter have been met with antagonism and so, regrettably, the diocese has been left with no option but to seek clarification in law. This will ensure the issues are fully considered and any proof provided. As this legal process is underway, it is not appropriate to comment further at this stage.”

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