Bristol Grammar School - History

History

The school was founded in 1532 by two brothers, Robert and Nicholas Thorne, when it was housed in the St Bartholomew's Hospital, as part of the new founding of schools after Henry VIII's closure of the monasteries, where previously a large proportion of England's education had occurred. The school motto Ex Spinis Uvas, which translates as " Grapes From Thornes", is a play upon the names of the school founders Robert and Nicholas Thorne.

The school became a direct grant grammar school in 1946 as a result of the Education Act 1944 and chose to become independent when direct grants were abolished by the 1974–9 Labour Government.

The Grammar School over the Frome Gate was in the care of its first schoolmaster, Thomas Moffat, when good fortune stepped in to secure its future. The Thorne family were wealthy Bristol merchants, friends of men like John Cabot and known to royalty. They wished to endow a school where the sons of Bristol merchants and tradesmen could receive a good education before settling down to the important business of making money. On 17 March 1532, Henry VIII issued a Charter under which the Thornes could endow the Grammar School and establish it in larger premises at St Bartholomew's Hospital near the bottom of Christmas Steps. There the boys learnt Latin and Greek, Divinity and some Hebrew.

By 1767, the buildings were too cramped. Charles Lee, the Master, persuaded the Corporation that the Grammar School should be allowed to exchange premises with the other City School, Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, which had a pleasant, new site on Unity Street, further up the hill. This exchange was carried out, and Charles Lee proceeded to enjoy his new School by greatly reducing the numbers of boys. The School was set to rights in 1812, but education was moving away from the classics and this caused further problems resulting in the school being closed in 1844. It received a new Scheme in 1847 and re-opened in January 1848 with 300 pupils.

By 1870 the headmaster (Rev John William Caldicott) told the Endowed Schools Commission that the school was "full to overflowing" with 240 boys and very successful with university entries. However, it was significantly less well endowed than Bristol's other secondary schools (Queen Elizabeth's, Red Maids' and Colston's), and its now dilapidated buildings were located in the wrong area of the city for pupils who mostly lived in Clifton and Redland. At that time, Bristol had substantial hospital endowments (second only to London and Edinburgh) but these were mostly spent on charity rather than education. The assistant charity commissioner proposed a scheme that would reorganise the objectives of the endowed schools and secure funding for the Grammar School and the new Clifton High School for Girls. After several years of debate and negotiation the initiative was approved in 1875, and in 1877 a new location in Tyndalls Park was agreed.

The first buildings in Tyndalls Park were occupied in 1879: the Big School, with its remarkable Great Hall, and the Headmaster’s House, a modest dwelling which is now the Junior School. Further classrooms were added, a Gymnasium and a Fives Court and a Rifle Range. These have been rebuilt as art rooms and rehearsal rooms, but the Winterstoke wing still houses the Laboratories which were added in 1914. The Preparatory School began in 1900, and in 1928 moved into its own building on Elton Road, but this was destroyed on the night of 24 November 1940 by incendiary bombs.

The Prep Hall, which survived, is now the Mackay Theatre. The Elton Road ruin was rebuilt as classrooms under John Garrett, who added the University Road block and began to colonise the other side of Elton Road. Since then, the School has built yet more classroom accommodation and a new Sports Hall; Modern Languages, Classics/Geography, Art and Music have their own Elton Road Houses, and the former playing field is now the Technology Centre.