Editing Walton, Wakefield (section)

==Schools==
The first village school was established in the village in 1722 when two large [[cottage]]s on Shay Lane were donated by Charles Waterton (grandfather of the aforementioned Squire Charles Waterton). One of the two cottages was a small [[schoolroom]] and the other was [[renting|let]] to the newly appointed [[schoolmaster]] free of charge, providing the two poor children of the village were educated for free.

In 1790, money from the [[Will (law)|will]] of wealthy woman called Catherine Neville of Chevet, Wakefield was donated. These funds were used to establish a new, free school in Walton which operated alongside a few other smaller schools in the area.

In 1857 Miss. Mary Pilkington of Chevet Hall, [[Sandal Magna|Sandal]], financed the construction of a new school, a schoolmasters house and a [[laundry|laundry school]] on School Lane. This school continued its existence until 1911, gradually taking on more pupils from the other village schools until they were deemed redundant and closed.
It was closed and demolished in 1911, but replaced shortly after by another new school building for children aged 3 to 11.

As the village population grew, the new school was soon over capacity and a solution was needed. To combat this problem, a new infant school was built on The Grove, taking on all the pupils aged 3 to 8, with the pupils aged 8 to 11 remaining at the original building.

The original school closed in 2007 and the infant school was demolished when a new replacement was constructed in its place. It caters to the pupils of both the old infant school and the original school, as well as containing the new village library. The original 1911 school was finally demolished in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/AboutWakefield/LocalCommunities/Walton/WaltonHistory/schools.htm |title=Wakefield Council – Walton – Schools |publisher=wakefield.gov.uk |date=  |accessdate=7 December 2012}}</ref> In 2019, eight dwellings were erected on the site.