A FORMER private girls' school with historic links to the Bronte sisters has been given a £27,000 lottery boost to help it celebrate 190 years of women's education.

The cash will be used to collect, catalogue and share documents and items relating to the women who studied and worked at Casterton School, near Kirkby Lonsdale.

The school, originally in Cowan Bridge, was founded in 1823 by Rev Carus Wilson to educate daughters of financially disadvantaged clergymen. It was attended by four of the Bronte sisters - Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Emily - and is said to have inspired Lowood, the school featured in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

The school moved to Casterton in 1833 and continued as a girls' school until a merger with Sedbergh School in 2013. It is now a preparatory school.

The lottery grant, awarded to the Sedbergh School Foundation, will enable Casterton Old Girls, nationwide researchers and those from the local area to learn more about the history of the school and the women associated with it, including the renowned educator and suffragist Dorothea Beale.

The project includes formal archival training for volunteers on site and at Lancashire Archives in Preston as well as funding for two volunteers to undertake post graduate archival training through a distance learning course at Dundee University.

It will gather and catalogue material so that it will be easy for future researchers to locate and to rehouse the collection in museum quality storage. The project will culminate with an exhibition that will tour community venues in the towns and villages surrounding Casterton and a series of talks with nationally renowned speakers sharing their knowledge about some of the fascinating women associated with the school.

Archivist Katy de la Rivière said: "The fascinating history of Casterton School has appeal both to those directly connected with the school and across the wider research community. The Heritage Lottery Fund has provided an opportunity to preserve and provide access to this collection of national importance.

"We are delighted to be working with Casterton Old Girls of all ages to gather and preserve archival material and welcome any other ‘COG’s’ who wish to contribute material to the archive or take part in recording the information held in the collection.”