Cirencester Grammar School
Encyclopedia
Cirencester Grammar School (CGS) was a grammar school
in Cirencester
, Gloucestershire
, England
, founded in about 1461 and closed in 1966.
visited the school on 23 July 1958 as part of its quincentenary celebrations.
The School's Victoria Road buildings still survive much as they were in 1966 and now house a junior school.
It was originally in Lewis Lane, but is now in Victoria Road.
It is also now a primary school. It closed as a junior school in July 2010
was music master at the school from 1959 to 1962, and it was here that he started his life-long association with writing works for non-specialist children to perform. He wrote many works for the school's orchestra and choir, including O Magnum Mysterium
. The school took part in the 1962 Bath Festival, with Yehudi Menuhin
playing a composition by Sixth form
er Stephen Arnold.
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
in Cirencester
Cirencester
Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, founded in about 1461 and closed in 1966.
History
Princess Alexandra of KentPrincess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy is the youngest granddaughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck. She is the widow of Sir Angus Ogilvy...
visited the school on 23 July 1958 as part of its quincentenary celebrations.
Closure
The school finally closed in July 1966, at the end of the summer term, as part of a reorganisation of county schools. In September 1966 its forms became part of the Cirencester School, combining with pupils from the Deer Park Secondary Modern School, and the new First Form entrants for 1966 went directly to the Deer Park site. Eventually the old Cirencester Grammar School forms all moved there, also.The School's Victoria Road buildings still survive much as they were in 1966 and now house a junior school.
It was originally in Lewis Lane, but is now in Victoria Road.
It is also now a primary school. It closed as a junior school in July 2010
Notable former pupils
- Dr Vernon Ellis CosslettVernon Ellis CosslettVernon Ellis Cosslett, FRS was a British microscopist.He worked with William Lawrence Bragg at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University on the electron microscope and founded the Electron Microscopy Department. He also developed improved x-ray machines...
, physicist and former President of the Association of University TeachersAssociation of University TeachersThe Association of University Teachers was the trade union and professional association that represented academic and academic-related staff at pre-1992 universities in the United Kingdom...
and the Royal Microscopical SocietyRoyal Microscopical SocietyThe Royal Microscopical Society is an international scientific society for the promotion of microscopy. RMS draws members from all over the world and is dedicated to advancing science, developing careers and supporting wider understanding of science and microscopy through its Science and Society... - William Court, Professor of Economic History at the University of BirminghamUniversity of BirminghamThe University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
from 1947-70 and President of the Economic History Society from 1969-70 - Wally HammondWally HammondWalter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
, cricketer whose centenary was celebrated at a reunion in Cirencester in 2003. - Edward JennerEdward JennerEdward Anthony Jenner was an English scientist who studied his natural surroundings in Berkeley, Gloucestershire...
, who invented inoculationInoculationInoculation is the placement of something that will grow or reproduce, and is most commonly used in respect of the introduction of a serum, vaccine, or antigenic substance into the body of a human or animal, especially to produce or boost immunity to a specific disease...
to control infectious diseaseInfectious diseaseInfectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
s. - Prof Christopher Price, President of the Association for Clinical Biochemistry from 2003-6
- Prof Clement John TranterClement John TranterClement John Tranter, CBE, D.Sc , aka C.J. Tranter, was a British mathematics professor, researcher and the author of several key academic textbooks...
CBE, mathematician
Notable staff
Sir Peter Maxwell DaviesPeter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
was music master at the school from 1959 to 1962, and it was here that he started his life-long association with writing works for non-specialist children to perform. He wrote many works for the school's orchestra and choir, including O Magnum Mysterium
O Magnum Mysterium
O Magnum Mysterium is a responsorial chant from the Matins of Christmas. A number of composers have reworked the chant into a contemporary setting; the settings by Byrd, Victoria, Gabrieli, Palestrina, Poulenc, Judith Bingham, Harbison, La Rocca, Mäntyjärvi, Pierre Villette, Morales, Lauridsen and...
. The school took part in the 1962 Bath Festival, with Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
playing a composition by Sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
er Stephen Arnold.