SCHOOLS 



and honest men feofees, . . . whereof a third part to 

 be chosen by the towne of Kirkham and the other 

 two parts by the parishioners generally, of which 

 feofees Isabell Wilding's' husband and her heirs, 

 because she gave 30/. to the schole maister, shall be 

 one. 



The next few years are noteworthy only for 

 petty disputes between the Romanist and Pro- 

 testant sections of the governing body. In 1636 

 the head master, Hugh Whaley, was locked out 

 of the school by the vicar, Mr. Fleetwood, who 

 suspected him of Papistry. The vicar incurred 

 a sharp rebuke from his bishop, who characterized 

 him as a ' sillie wilful man.' During the Civil 

 Wars the £chool was closed for three years ; 

 Mr. Whaley declined to continue teaching. 

 When Prince Rupert and ' the rear of his army 

 was gone out of the county,' new feoffees were 

 chosen and the school was reopened. The 

 feoffees purchased 



the rents of the king's revenue, called the chantry rents 

 of the parish of Kirkham and St. Michael's, which 

 came to ^^ll 8/. a year . . . and a ^10 rent out 

 of the Eaglford parish in Blackburn. 



When the king came to the throne again this 

 investment was lost, and on 19 September, 1661, 

 a subscription was begun among the parishioners 

 to replace it. 



At a metropolitical visitation (date unknown) 

 held at Kirkham the churchwardens presented 

 that 



there is a school in Kirkham which in former years 

 was free, but now is not, for the pension and stipend 

 due to it was not well and godly used, according to 

 the foundation and true intent of the founders of it : 

 jf 280 was given by the parishioners and the interest 

 thereof was for ever to go towards the schoolmaster's 

 wages ; but the feoffees . . . goeth and layeth out 

 jfzzo of the school stock in purchasing the king's rent 

 and so lost it. 



In 1655 Henry Colbourne of London, 

 scrivener, a native of Kirkham, directed his 

 trustees to purchase a lease of the rectory of 

 Kirkham and to invest the profits of the first six- 

 teen years in lands to maintain schools, &c ; 

 these were eventually purchased in London in 

 1673, were settled on the Drapers' Company in 

 accordance with the terms of the will, and 

 ;^69 I Of. was secured for the school, of which ;^45 

 went to the head master, £\b lOi. to the second 

 master, and jTS to the usher. The head master 

 was to be 'a university man and obliged to 

 preach once a month at least in the parish church 

 or in some of the chapels.' A decree in Chancery 

 of this date provided that the township of Kirk- 

 ham should keep the buildings in repair and that 

 the Drapers' Company should have the appoint- 

 ment of the masters. 



The Rev. James Barker in 1670 left some 

 ^^500 to be laid out in the purchase of land 



Isabell Birley had married a second time. 



yielding an annual rental of £t,0, of which the 

 master was to have ;^io * for his better encourage- 

 ment,' while the sum of j^ 1 2 a year was to be paid 

 as an 'exhibition or allowance to such a poor 

 scholar of the towne as shall then be admitted to 

 the university.' In 1725 William Grimbaldson, 

 M.D., left ;^400 for the benefit of the head 

 master, provided he were ' a scholar bred at West- 

 minster, Winchester or Eton and a master of 

 arts :' otherwise the money was to be expended 

 in binding apprentices. Dr. Grimbaldson also 

 left the interest upon ^50 to the school for the 

 purchase of classical books. These bequests and 

 the prudence of the trustees restored the endow- 

 ment to a condition of comparative opulence. 



At the present time the school is administered 

 under a scheme approved by Queen Victoria in 

 Council 1 9 May, 1 898, as a second-grade grammar 

 school. There are some 50 boys in attendance. 

 The present head master, the Rev. J. C. Walton, 

 M.A., is the twenty-third occupant of the post. 



PENWORTHAM ENDOWED SCHOOL 



On 22 September, 1552, Christopher Walton 

 of Little Hoole granted to thirteen trustees all 

 his property in Kirkham, Kellamergh, and Pres- 

 ton, to the intent that all the rents and profits 

 should be applied to the maintenance of a person 

 to keep a grammar school for all the poor child- 

 ren in the parish of Penwortham, who should 

 teach both young children in the ' Absay (A B C), 

 catechism, primer, accidence,' and others in 

 grammar without school hire, except cockpence 

 to be paid twice a year. This school is situate 

 in the township of Hutton, and is called Hutton 

 School. The original annual income was 

 £^2 17,5. 6d., now by increased value of land 

 ^^635 i$s. i^d. The Court of Chancery in 

 1823 sanctioned a scheme allowing three mas- 

 ters. Previously the trustees had supported an 

 elementary school at Farington ; this was con- 

 tinued, a new elementary school was built at 

 Cop Lane in Penwortham, and assistance was 

 also extended to free schools in Longton and 

 Howick. By a scheme of the Charity Commis- 

 sioners of 1876 the Hutton School was to be 

 called the Middle School, and to be open to 

 scholars between the ages of 7 and 16. The 

 curriculum was to include Latin, at least one 

 modern language, and science. The buildings 

 were extended in 1880 and 1892. 



CLITHEROE GRAMMAR SCHOOL 



The Free Grammar School, standing in the 

 churchyard, was founded by Queen Mary, 

 29 August, 1554. The endowment, consisting 

 of lands and the rectorial tithes of the parish of 

 Almondbury in York, and of certain messuages, 

 burgages, and lands in the district of Craven in 

 the same county, yielded the clear annual rent of 



605 



