13. St. Michael's old Church School


Brereton's first school, built in 1826 by the Sneyd sisters of Brereton Hall, and later endowed by them, stood on the site until replaced
with the present building in 1891 by the village's then Vicar, the
Rev. E. Samson, in memory of his father.

A small part of the original school was left as a Mistress's house and
is still visible on the south side. For most of its life it was a girls-only Church of England school (boys attended Redbrook Lane school).
After being replaced by Hob Hill School in 1971 it became, four years later, the Brereton Community Centre and successfully continued in that role for 25 years. A board bearing Gothic lettering, placed in the old building by the Rev. Samson to give details of the school's foundation, is now on display in the present Community Centre. The substantial building of red brick with its wide-span gabled roof and side porch, typical of many late Victorian schools, is a landmark in Main Road`s street scene. The north gable has an 1891 date-stone. A planning permission for conversion to housing is being implemented.

14. Elizabeth Birch Cottage Homes (Railway Cottages)

     A row of six bungalow cottages built by the benevolent
     Miss Elizabeth Birch of Brereton House in 1824 and later
     endowed by her with £1,500 for their upkeep and to give
     4 shillings weekly to the occupants who were to be poor
     persons of good moral character aged over 50 and regular
     attenders at the nearby Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. In
     1994 the original 6 cottages were extensively refurbished
     into 3 larger modern homes. Their other name 'Railway
     Cottages' comes from times past when they faced the
     narrow-gauge railway along which 'ginnie wagons' carried
     coal from the Levels to a basin adjoining the Trent and
     Mersey Canal (item 47 in this Appendix).

15. Edward Samson Cottage Homes

This row of four bungalow homes, with their attractive gabled
bay fronts, was built by Rev. Edward Samson, Brereton's vicar
from 1874 to 1897. A terra-cotta plaque on an end-gable bears
the date 1902 and the monogram ES. He also built identical
cottages at Armitage, all cottages being held in trust for needy
inhabitants of Brereton, Armitage and Pipe Ridware. They were
modernised in 1974 and there are plans to improve them further.
The adjoining house was also within the trust and was known as
Church Cottage for many years when occupied by the church
sexton, who also kept an eye on the cottage homes. In 1947
the  trustees sold it and applied the proceeds to the upkeep of
the other homes.