in Lewin Street in 1854 and extended in 1871. It soon became known as the National School, with the result that the earlier school was demolished. The later National School was itself demolished in the 1980s and is the site of the Salinae Day Care Centre, opened in 1995. At the turn of the 20th century two new schools were built: St Mary's Catholic school, whose keystone was laid in 1899 by Col. France-Hayhurst, and the secondary school, opened by France-Hayhurst in 1906. At the start of the 21st century there were seven schools in Middlewich: one infant, one junior, four primary schools and one secondary school. Cledford Primary School tends to accept students from the South of the town. It has now amalgamated with Cledford Infant And Nursery School. It is also in federation with Gainsborugh Primary School. Middlewich Primary School caters for children from the older, northern, part of the town, whilst St Mary's Catholic Primary School receives Catholic children from the town. Work began on the original buildings for the secondary school, Middlewich High School, in 1906, with later additions improving the teaching areas and providing a sports hall which could also be used by the wider community. The school opened on 1 November 1906. In 2007 it was ranked 34 out of 50 by GCSE results for schools in Cheshire in the 2007 league tables. Byley Primary School and Wimboldsley Community Primary School serve children from outside the immediate bounds of the town. Notable residents Notable residents include the theologians John Hulse (1708–1790) who founded the Hulsean lectures at Cambridge University, and Theophilus Lindsey (1723 OS1808) who inspired the Feathers Tavern Petition against clerical subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles, and so helped start one of the most profound debates within the Church of England in the 18th century. Elizabeth Ashbridge (1713–55), an 18th-century Quaker minister, was born in the town, as was William Benbow (1787–1864), a nonconformist preacher, pamphleteer and publisher. He was a prominent figure of the Reform Movement for widening the franchise. The France-Hayhurst family were local landowners responsible for the development of the model village at Bostock, and Charles Frederick Lawrence (1873–1940) was a local antiquarian who documented much of the early history of Middlewich, and also discovered a Neolithic stone celt whilst digging in the town. John Wright Oakes (1820–1887) born at Sproston House, was a landscape painter who exhibited regularly at