Cathedral Hall, St Agnesgate, Ripon, N Yorks, UK
Posted by: 
bill&ben
N 54° 08.051 W 001° 31.183
30U E 596716 N 5999463
A plaque denoting the location of Ripon’s Free Grammar School, the forerunner of Ripon Grammar School.
Waymark Code: WMTQ5C
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/28/2016
Views: 1
The origins of Ripon Grammar School may go as far back as the Norman Conquest, however the earliest reference to a school is to the existence of a schoolmaster Ricardum de Chamberlayn in 1348. De Chamberlayn was cited in a document as failing to appear before the Court of the King’s Bench, and subsequently outlawed.
The school in medieval times was endowed with land and was connected to a collegiate church. When Henry VIII’s commissioners arrived in Ripon two priests were bribed by town’s folk to say that the endowed lands belonged to the school, not the church, thus avoiding seizure. Unfortunately in 1550 the school’s governors tried to dismiss the schoolmaster, Rev Edmund Brown. The Rev Brown fought back by revealing the duplicity of the priests and the lands were seized by the Duchy of Lancaster.
On June 27 1555 Queen Mary came to the rescue of the school and signed a royal charter establishing the Free Grammar School and restoring land to the school. Whilst the school was set up as a free school, for some of its early history the school took in boarders from wealthy families to supplement school income. Unfortunately there was a conflict of interest between the educational requirements of the wealthy families and the needs of local children, which led to a petition from loc al tradesmen in 1848.
The school buildings became unhealthy by the mid 19th century. In 1872 the Marquess of Ripon gave the school new land in Bishopton Close in order to build a new school.
The plaque reads
“Here stood the medieval school which became the Free Grammar School of Queen Mary by charter in 1555 and was transferred to premises in Bishopton in 1874.”
Blue Plaque managing agency: Ripon Civic Society
Individual Recognized: Ripon Free Grammar School
Physical Address:
Cathedral Hall
St AGnesgate
Ripon, N Yorks UK
Web Address: [Web Link]
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