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Taken from "A Lancashire Township. The History of Briercliffe-with-Extwistle". Roger Frost
The white cottage below the Roggerham Gate Inn was built in 1803 by the Parker family for use as a school, hence its old name of 'Swinden School'. When Henry Todd set up a Sunday school there he was described as a wool comber and he worked for the Moore's of Burnley.
Where he (Henry Todd) started his school is not known except that it was somewhere in Extwistle. It was doubtless in his own cottage at first, but by about 1800 Henry's work had come to the notice of the Churchwardens at Burnley. They not only gave him their support and encouraged him in his work, but in 1803 they, together with Robert Townley Parker, Peregrine Edward Towneley and Col. John Hargreaves, raised enough money to build a Day and Sunday School for Extwistle.
Extwistle Sunday School is still standing. It has had various names; 'Swinding' or [i['Swinden School'[/i], (until the latter part of the nineteenth century); the 'white House', (the name associated with the building when Tattersall Wilkinson had it), and 'Swinden House'. Very little is known about the school which operated there. We know that Mr Townley Parker promised 5 gn per annum for seventy years and that Col. Hargreaves promised 3 gn, an annual payment which was continued after his death by his daughters, Mrs Thursby and Lady Scarlett. Mr Towneley's gift of 2 gn per annum is worthy of note as he was a Catholic.
The first headmaster was Henry Todd who was succeeded by his son who was also called Henry. Other members of the Todd family helped out in giving instruction to the children who attended, but it seems that the Todd's didn't give up their other work. The older Henry continued working as a woolcomber even after the wool business declined in Burnley.
John Spencer, later an important cotton manufacturer, remembered his early education at Extwistle School. He said that his "schooling was not good" and described the school-room as follows"...(there were) combs hanging on the walls and...sacks of wool in the corner...". As John Spencer was born in 1822 these quotations were those of a seventy-seven-year-old recalling his early life, but there is no reason to doubt him as other things he mentions can be proved to be correct. John Spencer's recollections would probably have referred to the late 1820's and early 1830's. The school closed in 1877.
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