The pupils of the Lickey Hill Preparatory School from Birmingham were evacuated to the village during the Second World War, in September 1939, and stayed until 1943. Later, the village was the home of a coeducational boarding school, run by the Parents' National Education Union for about ten years, from the late 1940s. The PNEU was founded in 1887 by educator Charlotte Mason to provide resources and support for teachers and especially to parents who wished to educate their children at home.