Skafnäset School – Background and Building

The main farmhouse of the farm of Västra Skafnäset was purchased in 1850 to be converted for use as a schoolhouse and teacher’s residence.

At the close of 1909, teaching was moved to the newly built school down in Persberg.

Details from the School Register of 1889

Transcript from the school register of 1889:

”At Persberg’s Primary School, the mine chaplain handles all religious instruction. An assistant teacher is also stationed there. The girls receive instruction in handicrafts. Divine service is held here in the school hall, at which the head teacher serves as organist and cantor at 2 kronor per occasion; instrument: the school’s harmonium (pedal organ).”

The Schoolhouse in a Contemporary Account (1924)

Bror Billman writes in 1924 in the book Old Memories of an Old Family:

”If we continue our walk to Skafnäset’s old and memorable schoolhouse, we find much here that has changed painfully. The two triangles on the hill, which once rang out to summon people to funerals and divine service, are gone and have been placed inside the schoolhouse. This building, which served as church and school for the past and present generation of Persberg, now belongs to the many premises that have become redundant, and bears the sad mark of being forgotten, with its pews, maps, exercise books and grade registers.”

The Teacher’s Residence and Later Use

Hacke Juvel recalls the building on the right in image 2:

”The house was built as a teacher’s residence and contained four apartments with a shared kitchen in the middle.”

The building was later used as a children’s holiday colony. The activities at ”Solvind” ceased in 1971.

Memoir Notes by Fredrik Örnberg

Fredrik Örnberg writes the following about Skafnäset School in A Persberg Man’s Life Notes:

”In a miner’s home there my cradle stood, and my first day dawned on 6 October 1847. My schooling was at Skafnäset School, where there were around 200 children and the teaching staff consisted of a teacher by the name of Hellkvist and the mine chaplain Warodell. How it was possible for two people to teach so many can be explained by the fact that at that time the old Lancaster method was in use; the children were divided into circles, and the more advanced pupils served as monitors in each circle, one week at a time. However that may be, Persberg School had a good reputation in matters of education.”

Fredrik Örnberg died in Nordmark in 1921.

On the Lancaster Method

The so-called Joseph Lancaster teaching method – the Lancaster Method – was based on older or more advanced pupils serving as monitors, teaching younger pupils under the teacher’s supervision.

The Building’s Earlier History

The main farmhouse of the farm of Västra Skafnäset was built in 1800 by the mining district representative Carl Erson (who belonged to the Åskagen family).

After his death it was inherited by his eldest son, the miner Erik Johan Carlsson (born 1804, died 1840).