In 1722 there was a school with a master nominated by trustees (salary £5/2/6 p.a., and can take 1s. quarterly for Latin scholars and 6d. quarterly for English). 'It is a free school founded by inhabitants by whom all the money was given, interest of which is now paid to the Master who is nominated by the sidesmen, now trustees'. Gastrell further noted that in 1657 John Hutton of Farleton left an estate in Hindon, Co. Durham, to an MA 'to teach School at Burton and preach at Preston chapel, and for want of such persons (which has long been the case) after other legacies of £4 p.a., the remainder of the rent (which is £11 p.a.) to be equally divided between the poor of Burton and Beethom parish', L.A.S. Butler, The Cumbria Parishes, 1714-1725, 107. The account in Nicolson & Burn, Westmorland and Cumberland (1777), I, 236, differs slightly. The school has a small endowment, the interest of several sums contributed by inhabitants, coming to £117. The ground was given by one Mr John Hutton, ancestor and namesake of the current vicar. Another John Hutton of Burton by his will of 1657 left 40s yearly to the poor of Burton, and 20s. to the poor of Cockfield, co. Durham, out of his estate in Hindon in the latter parish. The residue of the Hindon rents and profits he gave to a schoolmaster at Burton, who should be MA of Oxford and Cambridge, and officiate every Sunday as Curate at Preston chapel. The schoolmaster was to be chosen by a majority of the householders within the parish. If no schoolmaster, the profits were to be equally shared between the poor of Burton and of Beetham. Whole estate yields no more than £13 per annum. 'The chapel, as it seemeth, had then no curate, and he intended this as a kindness to the inhabitants, and not as thinking to impose a curate by his own authority. Though this happened to be the occasion of some doubt afterwards concerning the manner of appointing the curate.' In fact, under Preston Patrick, Gastrell's notes comment on the 1657 bequest that, 'An estate was left by one Hutton for reading prayers upon a condition never performed, etc. vide Burton school'. In 1779, Bishop Porteus recorded that the Hutton estate brought in £32/10/- p.a., but no schoolmaster had enjoyed the moiety for upward of 80 years. The master, chosen by the inhabitants, had a fixed salary of £4/16/6, the interest of £117; with gratuities from the children his income was £30 per annum. Butler, Cumbria Parishes, 108, 194.