There was once a prominent Quaker community in Coolham, and the "Blue Idol" meeting house, a timber-framed building, still exists. William Penn, who earlier had founded Pennsylvania in America, was closely involved in its establishment, and is believed to have worshipped there. The local junior school was founded as the Coolham British School (later Coolham Primary School) in 1889 by the Quakers. In the mid-twentieth century it moved to its present site, where it is known as the William Penn Primary School.
