18 Burley Schools
When application was made for the Parish Rooms to become a listed building, the application referred to the building as The Old Grammar School. Although there is no hard evidence that this building was a school, the design is similar to other school buildings of the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Other buildings in the Village have been used as schools, but the earliest recorded day school in Burley, was the Township School, which was built in 1817, and paid for by public subscription. Within a year the school had 50 pupils during the week, and as many as 150 on Sundays, when it was organised by the Wesleyans as a Sunday School.
The Township School originally occupied a site at the junction of Main Street and Station Road, but was demolished in the 1860s, and replaced by a new school building behind Main Street, which was then known as the Township Day School.
The exterior of the building remains much the same as when it was first built in 1862. The building is now used as business and private accommodation, and a request has been made that you do not trespass on the property whilst following the History Trail.
Aireville Terrace School was built to accommodate the growing number of children in the Village. The plan of the School shows a large hall surrounded by six classrooms, (two for Infants), three storerooms and three cloakrooms. There were cellars underneath for storage and the heating system. The School had extensive playgrounds and outside toilets. The building cost £3450, and was planned to accommodate up to 500 children. The property is now being re-developed.
Two modern school buildings now accommodate the Village children up to age 11, Burley Oaks, (formally the Middle School), and Burley and Woodhead Church of England School. Most of the children then move on to Ilkley Grammar School.