Great Hockham

Old School

The first Hockham School was built paid for and donated by Henry Samuel Partridge in 1832. It had two classes, senior and junior but took in children for several miles around. It was handed over in 1872 to be run by a school board, thus changing status from a National School to a Board School. It was enlarged in 1882, 1896 and 1908 (it had a toilet block added) and in 1908 it held 152 children in it's then three classrooms, with two teachers. It is the current home of the village clock (which dates from 1915), which was moved from the Reading Room when it was demolished in the 1950’s.

The Old School was used occasionally as a courthouse and was the headquarters of the Oddfellows Society, their rivals the Foresters being based at the Lion Pub. These societies would parade to Church on May Day, in their best clothes, sashes and regalia. Rivalry was intense and the best-attended group always held their heads that little bit higher than the other. The rivalry was so intense each group had separate services.

On its closure following the building of the new school on Watton Road, the Old School became the village Church Rooms used regularly by the Mothers Union, Sunday School, the Toddler Group, Playgroup, Brownies, Cubs and Scouts until being sold in the 1980’s as a private house. The clock remains village property and the owner of the building is responsible for ensuring it is both accurate and wound up.

The Old School viewed from the Wretham Road circa 1910

The new school was built in the early 1960’s on the Watton Road and has been extended to a large degree. However it has far less pupils today, than the old school ever had. It is however very modern, with all the facilities and technologies expected of a 21st century educational establishment.

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A Village in Norfolk