Giggleswick School
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Image:Giggleswick School.jpg Giggleswick School is an independent co-educational boarding school in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England.
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[edit] The Early School:
The current Giggleswick school was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior and Convent of Durham, to James Carr the Chantry Priest at the local Parish Church of St Alkelda, for the express purpose of enclosing it and building, at his own expense, one 'Gramar Scole'. By 1512 the school consisted of two small, irregular buildings, next to the local parish church.
The school was run traditionally by the Chantry Priests until Edward VI disolved the position. The school was saved, however, by the petition of the kings chaplain, John Nowell, and in 1553 it received its royal charter. This granted land to the school, and endowed it with the title: The Free Grammar School of King Edward the VI of Giggleswick.
There is some evidence that there was a school on the same site from an earlier date.
[edit] The Victorian Period
The school continued in its original location until 1867, when it moved slightly further out of the village, and up the hill to its present location. At this point, a major expansion of the school and its facilities began.
New boarding accommodation was added, playing fields were laid out, and new classrooms were built.
[edit] The School Chapel
In 1897, work began on the new school chapel, a gift from local land owner and school governor Walter Morrison. The eminent architect T.G. Jackson designed the building to Morrison's unusual specifications: a Gothic building with a dome, designed to fit into the surrounding landscape as naturally as possible. It was also Morrisons wish that the building should be completely fitted out and furnished inside, to allow for no unsympathetic alteration in the future.
The interior of the chapel was filled with an astonishing array of expensive fixtures and fittings. The pews were made of imported cypress wood, the floors were covered in marble, and the organ was made by Henry Willis & Sons, one of the leading organ makers in the country at the time.
The dome of the chapel was covered in copper, which developed a covering of a very distinctive green verdegris for many years, only reverting to its original bronze after major building restoration work began in the late 1990's. The interior of the dome was filled with mosaics depicting various angels playing musical instruments, and the four gospel writers at each corner of the base.
The current altar furniture is made of sterling silver and Brazilian rosewood. It was presented to the school in memory of Sir Douglas Glover, and old boy of the school, and later a school governor.
[edit] The Modern School
In 1934, the school was enlarged again, by the addition of a prep school called Catteral Hall (aged 7–13), over the road from the main school buildings, a new boarding house was created from the Georgian Beck House in the village, and in 1966 another boarding house, called Morrison was opened.
In the 1970's the school went co-educational, the first public school in the north of England, and for a long time the only public school, to do so.
In the late 1990's a pre-preparatory school called Mill House (ages 3–7) was opened within the grounds of Catteral Hall, and more recent expansion at the school has seen the creation of a new library, dining hall, sports facilities and science laboratories, as well as the refurbishment of the boarding accommodation.
[edit] Boarding Houses
There are four boys' boarding houses:
- Morrison, named after Walter Morrison,
- Nowell, named after John Nowell,
- Paley, named after William Paley,
- Shute, named after Josias Shute.
Nowell, Paley and Shute houses are all housed in the main body of the school, while Morrison, the most recently added boarding house, was purpose built slightly further from the main school campus.
The two girls' houses are:
- Carr, named after James Carr,
- Style, named after George Style.
[edit] Notable alumni
Notable alumni, who are known as Old Giggleswickians, include:
- William Paley (1743–1805), theologian.
- Thomas Kidd (1770–1850), classical scholar.
- John Saul Howson (1815–1885), theologian.
- O.S. Nock (1904–1994), railway historian.
- Keith Duckworth (1933–2005), engineer
- Anthony Daniels (1946– ), actor
- Oliver J. Y. Denton (1982– ), author and historian.
- Richard Whiteley, (1943–2005) Countdown presenter.
[edit] Notable Former Masters
Russell Harty, a BBC2 chat show host in the 1980s from Blackburn, taught English at the school, notably to Richard Whiteley. Harty and Whiteley entered television at the same time in the late 1960s.
John Langhorne was master there in the nineteenth century when it was known by its full title.
[edit] External links
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