Catalogue description Records Relating to Burnley Grammar School

Burnley Grammer School, 1559-

Deposited by Chief Executive, Lancashire County Council 27 April 1982 Accession no. 4838

Transcripts of the sixteenth century and other deeds can be found in W Bennett, Burnley and the Grammar School in the Sixteenth Century(1930).

• Education

Following the orders of Edward VI, in 1552, the Chantries were dissolved, closing the Chantry School in Burnley. In 1559 certain leading men of the Parish of Burnley urged the endowment of a Free Grammar School, with gifts of land and rents. On the 1 February 1559, the Habergham deed was sealed bringing into existence a new Grammar School for Burnley. John Towneley erected the first buildings for the school. The Towneley family, along with the Haydock, Habergham, Woodruff and Whitacre's, provided the first founders and governors of the school. The school has occupied various sites during its existence. During 1871 the Governors of the school agreed to allow the representatives of the Town Council and School Board to join them, in return for financial aid. This resulted in new school buildings on Bank Parade, opened in 1874. In 1959 the school moved once again to Ivy Bank, sharing its site with the Ivy Bank High School for Girls. The High School, Ormerod Road, was opened under the management of the Higher Education Committee, in September 1909, on the premises of the Technical Institute. A preliminary prospectus for this school is included in these records. The school was used for the reception of girls from the Grammar School.

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