A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of Troughton Hall estate in Furness in 1625. 

 In 1633 a second endowment was given for 

 the benefit of an usher consisting of rents in 

 Goosnargh amounting to £^ 41. reserved upon 

 leases which were to be improved to ;^I2. This 

 was increased in 179+ with the interest on 

 ;^270 left by Mrs. Mary Smalley. The income 

 of the school, now elementary, is about ;^I00. 



ORMSKIRK GRAMMAR SCHOOL 



By an inquisition taken at Ormskirk 27 

 September, 1610, it was found that Henry 

 Ascroft and others had given ^iT,(i lu. 8^. for 

 the use and maintenance of a free grammar 

 school; this with other benefactions in 1772 

 amounted to ^^583 bs. id. The school pro- 

 perty consists of houses and land which yield 

 in annual rents ^^138 151. besides a dwell- 

 ing house and school under the same roof. 

 In accordance with the most recent scheme the 

 school is a mixed grammar school. Under 

 Mr. J. R. Bate, B.A., B.Sc, appointed in 1901, 

 there are about 70 boys and 80 girls. New 

 buildings are contemplated. 



OLDHAM GRAMMAR SCHOOL 



The free grammar school founded by James 

 Assheton, esq., of Chadderton Hall, in 1606, was 

 endowed with a statute acre of land in the centre 

 of the town. 



By provisions of the trust deed dated 1 5 May, 

 1606, the children were 'to be freely instructed 

 in the English, Greek, and Latin tongues and 

 initiated in good manners.' 



An inquisition (no date) quoted in the Kuerden 

 MS. (fol. 619) orders that the ' ten feoffees being 

 dead, a new deed shall be executed.' The com- 

 missoners report that 



James Ashton of Chadderton dec : did by deed made 

 to Law(rence) Chaderton and other feoffees grant a rent- 

 charge of 40;. for ever to the schoole of Oldham out 

 of a messuage in OldJiam there in occ(upation) of Rog. 

 Taylor and of James Rodes and not payd for ; 2 y(ears). 



The original endowment was increased by 

 legacies from George Scholes, 13 August, 1686, 

 and Thomas Nuttall, 14 March, 1726. The 

 school property, being required for the purpose of 

 street widening, was purchased by the corporation 

 in 1869 for ;^i,oio, which sum with other invest- 

 ments brings the school endowment up to a capi- 

 tal value of j^2,ooo. By a scheme under the 

 Endowed Schools Acts of 28 November, 1887, 

 ^18,000 and ^^2,050 a year out of the Hulme 

 Trust estates were united with this endowment, 

 and Hulme Grammar Schools for boys and girls 

 established on a spacious site, and in fine build- 

 ings, above the town. Under Mr. A. G. Pick- 

 ford, M.A., B.Sc, appointed head master in 1903, 

 and five assistant masters there are 150 boys. 



CHORLEY GRAMMAR SCHOOL' 



The history of this school begins with a certi- 

 ficate in the register book of the parish dated 1634, 

 which states 



' that the chapelry having experienced many inconve- 

 niences by reason of its being utterly destitute of a 

 schoolhouse, the inhabitants in the year 161 1 agreed 

 that one should forthwith be erected, partly within 

 the churchyard and partly within the Tythe Barn yard, 

 at the cost of the parish ; ' further ' that no schoolmaster 

 should inhabit tlierein with his wife neither minister 

 with his wife, but that every such wife must be kept 

 out of the same for divers great causes — and especially 

 that such wives or their children begotten in such 

 habitation might become chargeable to the parish of 

 Chorley .... For the perfecting of the said build- 

 ing, Robert Charnock of Astley gave the bricks and 

 £6 in money ; and every inhabitant in Chorley that 

 was liable to a 1 5 th. gave and paid 20-1 5 ths thereto.' 



The school received various small legacies, but the 

 endowment was practically nil. The scholars 

 paid quarterage. In 1823-4 the school was re- 

 built in the Tythe Barn yard. This building 

 again has been superseded by a schoolroom erected 

 in 1868 with accommodation for 60 boys. Some 

 20 boys attend the school. There are no free 

 places. 



LEIGH GRAMMAR SCHOOL' 



The date of the foundation of this school is not 

 exactly known. A chancery decree of the county 

 palatine of Lancaster recited in an indenture of 

 1770 refers to it in the following terms : 



There is and from the time whereof the memory of 

 man is not to the contrary hath been a grammar school 

 in the parish of Leigh for teaching and instructing 

 children of the poor and other inhabitants within the 

 parish and other children sent thither. 



William Crompton, a local celebrity, baptized in 

 October, 1598, is said 'to have been educated in 

 grammar in the parish of Leigh, near Wigan, in 

 Lancashire,' a phrase which may be taken to imply 

 that he was in attendance at the school. The 

 will (9 January, 16 1 3)ofJamesStarkieof Penning- 

 ton, tailor, contains the following bequest : 



To Mr. Lowe vycar of Leigh, the sum of fFourtye 

 shillings for and towards a free Grammar Schole 

 which I pray God may be in good tyme att Leigh 

 afForesaide, or in defaulte thereof for the hyreinge of a 

 preachear there. 



William Crompton matriculated at Brasenose 

 College, Oxford, in 161 7, and the school must 

 have been in existence before that date, assuming 

 him to have been a scholar. Hence the founda- 

 tion may be assigned to the years 16 14- 15. No 



'Baines, Hist. 0/ Lanes, iv, 148. 



' From a series of articles contributed to the Leigh 

 Chronicle in Dec. 1897, by W. D. Pink, which 

 contain references to such information as has been 

 published elsewhere concerning the school. 



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