Port Isaac Heritage - everybody has a story to tell about their life

Schooldays

“The best days of your life”

“… a picturesque Gothic style school, from whose pointed windows the teachers could, if they wished, pitch their pupils down the cliff side into the harbour below …” John Betjeman

An unofficial history of life and times at Port Isaac School from 1877 – the school opened with 164 children, quickly growing to 208 in a matter of weeks. On Fore Street, it added to the hustle and bustle of the village right up until it closed in 1976, when it was replaced by a new building at the top of the village. Children came to the school from as far away as Treore, Tresungers and Trelights as well as Port Gaverne and Port Quin. The school bell was rung before morning lessons began and children would come rushing down Church Hill, run across the beach clamber up the cliff to the playing yard to avoid being late.