A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



instruction in the three R's and needlework in 

 the afternoons. The head or reading mistress 

 received a salary of 131. a week ; the second or 

 spinning mistress 8j. a week. Each girl admitted 

 at twelve years old received 2s. 6d. a week the 

 first year and y. 6d. the second year. None of 

 the girls ever went on with spinning after they 

 left the school, because at that time hand- 

 spinning had long been replaced by spinning 

 by machinery in factories. The endowment of 

 some 320 a year, being g of the income 

 ( 329), of the lands and about ,90 a year derived 

 from accumulations of income was practically 

 wasted. Some of the trustees wished for a 

 scheme to be made for it under the Endowed 

 Schools Acts, but the Charity Commissioners 

 decided that it was not under these Acts. 



Under a scheme made by the Board of 

 Education under the Charitable Trusts Acts, 

 1906, this endowment is now to be applied to 

 the erection of a girls' high school, with large 

 provision for technical instruction. Buildings 

 are now in course of erection, and it is hoped that 

 the school will open inSeptember 1910. The 

 endowment amounts only to some 300 a year. 



NOTTINGHAM GRAMMAR SCHOOL 



Mention of the school at Nottingham a hun- 

 dred years earlier than any yet known has 

 recently been found. Just as one of the earliest 

 mentions of St. Paul's School, London, appears 

 in a writ by the acting Bishop of London to put 

 down its rivals in 1137; so Nottingham first 

 appears in a similar utterance by the bishop of 

 the diocese, the Archbishop of York, 150 years 

 later. Only the Nottingham master seems to 

 have been trying to get the embargo against 

 rivals extended beyond Nottingham itself, and 

 succeeded but partially. On 30 June 1289 

 Archbishop Romanus * directed to the school- 

 master at Nottingham a letter, or rather, writ, 

 as it is expressed to be under seal, which is 

 headed in the Register ' That school may not be 

 held in the parish of Kynewalstowe (Kinoulton) 

 except by the parish clerks of the same; which is 

 important for the schoolmaster of Nottingham and 

 'the vicar of our church of Knewaldstowe ' (sic). 

 The letter runs : ' As we wish our rights to be 

 preserved entire, so we do not wish that through 

 us others should find their rights derogated 

 from. We decree, therefore, that only the 

 clerks of our parish of Kynewaldstowe may 

 keep, if they wish, the school (exerceant scolas) 

 which has been anciently accustomed to be 

 kept there, all other clerks and outsiders (foraneis) 

 being excluded from the same school, as they 

 may in no wise be admitted in the said school. 



By this we provide for the rights of our church 

 or free chapel aforesaid, while your rights, 

 master, are wholly preserved as regards outside 

 clerks.' 



It is only owing to the fortunate accident of 

 Kinoulton having been a ' peculiar ' of the arch- 

 bishop's that this quarrel was settled by him and 

 the record preserved, since, as we have seen, 

 ordinary contests about schools in Nottingham- 

 shire were for the Chapter of Southwell to decide, 

 and they have mostly lost their records. We shall 

 see later the Nottingham master asserting his 

 monopoly in Wollaton ; it is still more striking 

 to find him asserting it so far off as Kinoulton, 

 some ten miles away. 



The next reference to the school, so far as has 

 yet been discovered, is in a grant of 13 August 

 1382 2 to Robert of Retford, vicar of St. Mary's, 

 and William of Adbolton, master of the grammar 

 school of Nottingham (maghtro scolarum gram- 

 maticae de Notyngham) of a messuage upon the 

 Pavement (super Pavymentum). The High and 

 Low Pavement are still streets in Nottingham. 

 In 1389 this same man is referred to as 'Wil- 

 liam Scolemayster ' and also as ' William of Ad- 

 bolton, scolemaystre.' Next year he was dead. 

 On 19 October 1390 William Dynet and 

 Richard Werdesaus, executors of the will of 

 William son of William of Adbolton, late master 

 of the grammar school of Nottingham, with 

 Robert of Retford, perpetual vicar of the parish 

 church of the Blessed Mary of Nottingham, 

 granted to William of Farwell a tenement in 

 St. Mary Street between the cottages of Nicholas 

 of Hopton and Cecilia. 



The casual character of the mention of the 

 schoolmaster negatives any idea of the school 

 being a new creation, and is consistent with any 

 extent of antiquity. 



The next master was Robert Fole. On 

 15 January 1394-5 Robert Fole, chaplain, sued 

 William Cupper on a plea of debt. Cupper had 

 several times made default, but now appeared. 

 Fole demanded 31. $d. due to him as school 

 fee for five terms' teaching of Cupper's son 

 and damages 2s. Cupper denied the debt, and 

 a jury was ordered for the next court. On 

 10 February, however, they came to an agree- 

 ment, and Cupper was ' in mercy' and fined. 

 On 3 November 1401 3 we meet with the same 

 master acting as a trustee in a deed which wit- 

 nessed that John of Sawmby of Nottingham has 

 given and granted to Sir (domino) Robert Fole, 

 chaplain, master of the grammar school of Not- 

 tingham, and two others, all his goods and 

 chattels absolutely with power to any of them to 

 grant, sell or bequeath (legare) them at pleasure. 

 Whether this was a grant for the benefit of 

 creditors, or to avoid a prospective forfeiture for 



1 York. Epis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 75. Communicated 

 by Mr. W. Brown, Secretary of the Surtees Society. 



* Rec. of the Borough ofNott. i, 246, footnote. 

 ' Ibid, ii, 12. 



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