ABSTRACT
‘Elementary’ education – that is, reading and perhaps writing – might be gained in schools of various origins: a parish priest might run such a school at the back of his church; a chantry-priest might hold a school as part of his endowed duties; a bell-ringer might give elementary schooling; a grammar school might have a reading school attached to it, as a sort of preparatory school; and song schools or choir schools at cathedrals, large churches and abbeys might provide opportunities for elementary education. As the origin of these elementary schools varied so did their names, for in such documentary evidence of their existence which survives, they are known variously as ABC schools or ‘abseys’, as ‘reading’ schools, ‘writing’ schools and ‘song’ schools, and collectively as ‘petties’.
