Nantwich Grammar School
Encyclopedia
Nantwich Grammar School, later known as Nantwich and Acton Grammar School, is a former grammar school
for boys in Nantwich
, Cheshire
, England. It now forms part of the mixed comprehensive school
, Malbank School and Sixth Form College
.
The original Nantwich Grammar School was first recorded in 1572 and occupied a schoolhouse in St Mary's
churchyard. It closed in around 1858 and the building was demolished. In 1860, the New Grammar School was founded from the amalgamation of this school with the Blue Cap School, a charity school
founded around 1700 which had closed in 1852. It occupied a large schoolhouse and headmaster's house at 108 Welsh Row. In 1885, it incorporated the grammar school of Acton
, and became known as Nantwich and Acton Grammar School. The former schoolhouse and headmaster's house at 108 Welsh Row is listed at grade II; it has diapering
, latticed
windows and an octagonal bell tower
.
The school moved to a new, larger building at the end of Welsh Row in 1921. In 1977, the school became comprehensive and was renamed Malbank School and Sixth Form College.
school building in the churchyard of St Mary's
was formerly the town's guild hall
. Like the adjacent church, the schoolhouse appears to have survived the fire of 1583; it is not listed among the buildings destroyed, and Webb states that the fire consumed "all the dwellings from the river-side to the other side of the church ... saving only the school-house". In 1611, Randle Kent, an early schoolmaster, had the existing building extended with the addition of a porch to the south face.
According to the Reverend William Walford, a pupil in the 1780s, subjects taught included Latin, Greek, writing and arithmetic. Walford described the tuition as "far from being of the highest order, as may be conceived, when one teacher had to instruct a hundred boys with no other assistance than that of an usher" and stated that pupils were frequently beaten. Until 1831, the schoolmaster was always a clergyman. In 1836, the Charity Commission recorded eight charity pupils, who received free education, nine boarders and fifty day pupils. The total annual endowment at this date amounted to £10 12s 0d, which was considered "very small". The 19th century saw the school experience problems recruiting a schoolmaster due to the low salary and the lack of a house, and the school closed in around 1858. The schoolhouse was demolished soon afterwards, when St Mary's was undergoing restoration.
, was founded in the town in the late 17th century or early 18th century. It is first mentioned in a pamphlet of 1712, which stated that the school taught forty boys "who wear blue caps that their behaviour may be the better observed abroad". There was a separate establishment for thirty girls, about which little is known. The school took boys from age eight. In general such charity schools taught reading, writing and arithmetic, and additionally prepared pupils for apprenticeship
s. However, Joseph Partridge, the schoolmaster in 1772–96 and author of the first history of Nantwich, mentioned only tuition in English and writing. The Nantwich Blue Cap School rented rooms from a house in Pepper Street, now demolished, and no specific schoolhouse was ever built.
The principal original donors were Randle and Stephen Wilbraham, and the Wilbraham family of Townsend House administered the school, selected the charity pupils and also paid for their clothing. Each charity boy received annually "a stout drab jacket, a blue cloth cap, a band, a pair of shoes and a pair of stockings". By 1774, John Crewe
(later the first Baron Crewe
) of Crewe Hall
was also contributing to the master's salary, which was £16 in 1836. By 1836, in addition to the forty charity pupils, there were thirty paying pupils. The "old-fashioned and eccentric" John Thomson held the post of schoolmaster for 55 years from 1797 until 1851, when he retired aged 86 or 87. His successor lasted only around six months, and the school then closed.
to replace the closed grammar school in around 1860. The newly founded school amalgamated the charities of the Old Grammar School and the Blue Cap School, by a directive of the Court of Chancery
dated 22 March 1860. George Wilbraham endowed it with £500 from the Old Grammar School fund and Hungerford Crewe
, the third Baron Crewe
, with £200 from the Blue Cap School fund. Six charity pupils, nominated by Wilbraham and Lord Crewe, were educated for free. The new schoolhouse was built at Welsh Row Head, which at that date was the end of the street.
In 1885, the school incorporated the grammar school of nearby Acton
, founded in 1662, to become Nantwich and Acton Grammar School. At some point in the late 19th or early 20th century, the school started to admit girls. The town's population growth during the early 20th century rendered number 108 too small, and the combined school moved to a new, larger building at the end of Welsh Row in 1921.
under a slate roof. It is listed at grade II. It has a projecting central wing with two gable
s; the larger of the two gables has a bay window
. There is an octagonal bell tower
capped with a spirelet. The former schoolroom is lower than the headmaster's house and has three bays.
All the windows are latticed
with a lozenge
pattern; the schoolroom windows have stone mullion
s and transoms
. The two entrances to the front face have a pointed arch
ed top. The building stood vacant in 1987, but has since been converted to residential use.
and was renamed Malbank School and Sixth Form College.
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...
for boys in Nantwich
Nantwich
Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The town gives its name to the parliamentary constituency of Crewe and Nantwich...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England. It now forms part of the mixed comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
, Malbank School and Sixth Form College
Malbank School and Sixth Form College
Malbank School is a comprehensive secondary school and sixth form in Nantwich, Cheshire with pupils of both sexes aged from 11 to 18.-Admissions:It is in the west of Nantwich, close to the boundary with Henhull, on the A534 and the Shropshire Union Canal....
.
The original Nantwich Grammar School was first recorded in 1572 and occupied a schoolhouse in St Mary's
St Mary's Church, Nantwich
St Mary's Church, Nantwich, is in the centre of the market town of Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. It has been called the "Cathedral of South Cheshire" and it is considered by some to be one of the finest medieval...
churchyard. It closed in around 1858 and the building was demolished. In 1860, the New Grammar School was founded from the amalgamation of this school with the Blue Cap School, a charity school
Charity school
A charity school, also called Blue Coat School, was significant in the History of education in England. They were erected and maintained in various parishes, by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants, for teaching poor children to read, write, and other necessary parts of education...
founded around 1700 which had closed in 1852. It occupied a large schoolhouse and headmaster's house at 108 Welsh Row. In 1885, it incorporated the grammar school of Acton
Acton, Cheshire
Acton is a small village and civil parish lying immediately west of the town of Nantwich in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of...
, and became known as Nantwich and Acton Grammar School. The former schoolhouse and headmaster's house at 108 Welsh Row is listed at grade II; it has diapering
Diapering
Diaper is any of a wide range of decorative patterns used in a variety of works of art, such as stained glass, heraldic shields, architecture, silverwork etc. Its chief use is in the enlivening of plain surfaces.-Etymology:...
, latticed
Latticework
Latticework is a framework consisting of a criss-crossed pattern of strips of building material, typically wood or metal. The design is created by crossing the strips to form a network...
windows and an octagonal bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
.
The school moved to a new, larger building at the end of Welsh Row in 1921. In 1977, the school became comprehensive and was renamed Malbank School and Sixth Form College.
Old Grammar School
The earliest grammar school in Nantwich is usually considered to have been founded in around 1560; the first record of it, however, dates from 1572. It was founded by two London woolpackers, John and Thomas Thrush, who originated in Nantwich. William Webb, writing in 1622/3, stated that the school's aim was to further the "teaching of the children of the poor and others". The Wilbraham family later became the main benefactor and, by 1716, they were nominating the school's masters. The timber-framedTimber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
school building in the churchyard of St Mary's
St Mary's Church, Nantwich
St Mary's Church, Nantwich, is in the centre of the market town of Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. It has been called the "Cathedral of South Cheshire" and it is considered by some to be one of the finest medieval...
was formerly the town's guild hall
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
. Like the adjacent church, the schoolhouse appears to have survived the fire of 1583; it is not listed among the buildings destroyed, and Webb states that the fire consumed "all the dwellings from the river-side to the other side of the church ... saving only the school-house". In 1611, Randle Kent, an early schoolmaster, had the existing building extended with the addition of a porch to the south face.
According to the Reverend William Walford, a pupil in the 1780s, subjects taught included Latin, Greek, writing and arithmetic. Walford described the tuition as "far from being of the highest order, as may be conceived, when one teacher had to instruct a hundred boys with no other assistance than that of an usher" and stated that pupils were frequently beaten. Until 1831, the schoolmaster was always a clergyman. In 1836, the Charity Commission recorded eight charity pupils, who received free education, nine boarders and fifty day pupils. The total annual endowment at this date amounted to £10 12s 0d, which was considered "very small". The 19th century saw the school experience problems recruiting a schoolmaster due to the low salary and the lack of a house, and the school closed in around 1858. The schoolhouse was demolished soon afterwards, when St Mary's was undergoing restoration.
Blue Cap Charity School
A Blue Cap School, a type of charity schoolCharity school
A charity school, also called Blue Coat School, was significant in the History of education in England. They were erected and maintained in various parishes, by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants, for teaching poor children to read, write, and other necessary parts of education...
, was founded in the town in the late 17th century or early 18th century. It is first mentioned in a pamphlet of 1712, which stated that the school taught forty boys "who wear blue caps that their behaviour may be the better observed abroad". There was a separate establishment for thirty girls, about which little is known. The school took boys from age eight. In general such charity schools taught reading, writing and arithmetic, and additionally prepared pupils for apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
s. However, Joseph Partridge, the schoolmaster in 1772–96 and author of the first history of Nantwich, mentioned only tuition in English and writing. The Nantwich Blue Cap School rented rooms from a house in Pepper Street, now demolished, and no specific schoolhouse was ever built.
The principal original donors were Randle and Stephen Wilbraham, and the Wilbraham family of Townsend House administered the school, selected the charity pupils and also paid for their clothing. Each charity boy received annually "a stout drab jacket, a blue cloth cap, a band, a pair of shoes and a pair of stockings". By 1774, John Crewe
John Crewe, 1st Baron Crewe
John Crewe, 1st Baron Crewe , of Crewe Hall in Cheshire, was a British politician. He is chiefly remembered for his sponsorship of Crewe's Act of 1782, which barred customs officers and post office officials from voting....
(later the first Baron Crewe
Baron Crewe
Baron Crewe, of Crewe in the County of Chester, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 25 February 1806 for the politician and landowner John Crewe, of Crewe Hall, Cheshire. This branch of the Crewe family descended from Sir Ranulph Crewe , Speaker of the House of...
) of Crewe Hall
Crewe Hall
Crewe Hall is a Jacobean mansion located near Crewe Green, east of Crewe, in Cheshire, England. Described by Nikolaus Pevsner as one of the two finest Jacobean houses in Cheshire, it is listed at grade I...
was also contributing to the master's salary, which was £16 in 1836. By 1836, in addition to the forty charity pupils, there were thirty paying pupils. The "old-fashioned and eccentric" John Thomson held the post of schoolmaster for 55 years from 1797 until 1851, when he retired aged 86 or 87. His successor lasted only around six months, and the school then closed.
History
The new grammar school and headmaster's house at 108 Welsh Row were built by George Wilbraham of DelamereDelamere, Cheshire
thumb|right|200px|Map of civil parish of Delamere within the former borough of Vale RoyalDelamere is a civil parish and village in Cheshire. It is situated approximately 7 miles to the west of Northwich, within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester.The village is well-known for the...
to replace the closed grammar school in around 1860. The newly founded school amalgamated the charities of the Old Grammar School and the Blue Cap School, by a directive of the Court of Chancery
Court of Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of...
dated 22 March 1860. George Wilbraham endowed it with £500 from the Old Grammar School fund and Hungerford Crewe
Hungerford Crewe, 3rd Baron Crewe
Hungerford Crewe, 3rd Baron Crewe FSA, FRS was an English landowner and peer.The son of John Crewe, 2nd Baron Crewe, an army general, and Henrietta Maria Anna Walker-Hungerford, he was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford...
, the third Baron Crewe
Baron Crewe
Baron Crewe, of Crewe in the County of Chester, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 25 February 1806 for the politician and landowner John Crewe, of Crewe Hall, Cheshire. This branch of the Crewe family descended from Sir Ranulph Crewe , Speaker of the House of...
, with £200 from the Blue Cap School fund. Six charity pupils, nominated by Wilbraham and Lord Crewe, were educated for free. The new schoolhouse was built at Welsh Row Head, which at that date was the end of the street.
In 1885, the school incorporated the grammar school of nearby Acton
Acton, Cheshire
Acton is a small village and civil parish lying immediately west of the town of Nantwich in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of...
, founded in 1662, to become Nantwich and Acton Grammar School. At some point in the late 19th or early 20th century, the school started to admit girls. The town's population growth during the early 20th century rendered number 108 too small, and the combined school moved to a new, larger building at the end of Welsh Row in 1921.
Description
108 Welsh Row is a large building of two storeys plus attics, in red brick with stone dressing and blue-brick decorative diaperingDiapering
Diaper is any of a wide range of decorative patterns used in a variety of works of art, such as stained glass, heraldic shields, architecture, silverwork etc. Its chief use is in the enlivening of plain surfaces.-Etymology:...
under a slate roof. It is listed at grade II. It has a projecting central wing with two gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s; the larger of the two gables has a bay window
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
. There is an octagonal bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
capped with a spirelet. The former schoolroom is lower than the headmaster's house and has three bays.
All the windows are latticed
Latticework
Latticework is a framework consisting of a criss-crossed pattern of strips of building material, typically wood or metal. The design is created by crossing the strips to form a network...
with a lozenge
Lozenge
A lozenge , often referred to as a diamond, is a form of rhombus. The definition of lozenge is not strictly fixed, and it is sometimes used simply as a synonym for rhombus. Most often, though, lozenge refers to a thin rhombus—a rhombus with acute angles of 45°...
pattern; the schoolroom windows have stone mullion
Mullion
A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
s and transoms
Transom (architectural)
In architecture, a transom is the term given to a transverse beam or bar in a frame, or to the crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it. Transom is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece...
. The two entrances to the front face have a pointed arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
ed top. The building stood vacant in 1987, but has since been converted to residential use.
Later history
In 1928, a few years after the move to the larger building, Nantwich and Acton Grammar School had expanded to 250 pupils. It remained a grammar school until 1977, when it became comprehensiveComprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
and was renamed Malbank School and Sixth Form College.
Sources
- Bavington G et al. Nantwich, Worleston & Wybunbury: A Portrait in Old Picture Postcards (Brampton Publications; 1987) (ISBN 0 9511469 6 3)
- Hall J. A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester (2nd edn) (E. J. Morten; 1972) (ISBN 0-901598-24-0)
- Lake J. The Great Fire of Nantwich (Shiva Publishing; 1983) (ISBN 0 906812 57 7)
- Lamberton A, Gray R. Lost Houses in Nantwich (Landmark Publishing; 2005) (ISBN 1 84306 202 X)
- Whatley A. Nantwich in Old Picture Postcards: 1880–1930 (European Library; 1992) (ISBN 90 288 5380 4)