This article is largely based on an article in the out-of-copyright 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, which was produced in 1911. It should be brought up to date to reflect subsequent history or scholarship (including the references, if any). When you have completed the review, replace this notice with a simple note on this article's talk page. Thanks!

Barring out is a custom, formerly common in English schools, of barring the master from the school premises. A typical example of this practice was at the school in Bromfield, Cumbria,^[1] where, William Hutchinson says, "it was the custom, time out of mind, for the scholars, at Fasting's Even (the beginning of Lent) to depose and exclude the master from the school for three days."^[2] During this period the school doors were barricaded and the boys armed with mock weapons. If the master's attempts to re-enter were successful, extra tasks were inflicted as a penalty, and willingly performed by the boys. On the third day terms of capitulation, usually in Latin verse, were signed, and these always conceded the immediate right to indulge in football and a cockfight. The custom was long retained at Eton College and figures in many school stories.

More serious incidents of barring out have been described for the The Royal School, Armagh, and Belfast Royal Academy in Northern Ireland; and for the Royal High School of Edinburgh, Scotland.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Cumbria contains what used to be Cumberland County
2. ^ Hutchinson, William. The history of the county of Cumberland. London, 1794. This must be the reference 1911 Britannica is referring to, but a Google search doesn't turn up the quote.

[edit] References

•  "Barring-out". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

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