A History of Giggleswick School from its Foundation, 1499 to 1912Bell, Edward Allen
History
A History of Giggleswick School from its Foundation, 1499 to 1912
Bell, Edward Allen
Giggleswick School (Giggleswick, England) -- History
The half acre that he thus obtained was ordered to be enclosed and James
Carr agrees that he will keep or cause to be kept there "one gramer
scole" building it "at hys awne propyr charges and costes."
The _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1786 contains a letter from a
correspondent describing the school that Carr built. It was low, small
and irregular and consisted of two stages, whereof at that period the
upper one was used for writing, etc., that is to say for elementary
education, probably reading, writing and arithmetic; the lower stage on
the other hand was used for advanced teaching. This would include the
elaborate classical curriculum common to almost every school and to
which we shall return later. On the North side there was a small
projecting building, which before 1786 had contained a tolerable
collection of books but at that time they had been dispersed. The date
of the completion of the building is fixed by an inscription on a stone
which was placed almost above one of the doors and is still preserved
in the modern Big School.
Alma dei mater, defende malis Jacobum Car:
Presbiteris, quoque clericulis domus hec fit in anno
Mil' quin' cen' duoden'. Jesu nostri miserere:
Senes cum junioribus laudent nomen Domini.
Kindly Mother of God, defend James Car from ill. For priests
and young clerks this house is made in 1512. Jesus, have mercy
upon us.
Old men and children praise the name of the Lord.
The inscription is an ingenious but not altogether happy example of
Carr's ability as a writer of Latin Hexameters.
Above this stone slab was an ornamented niche, which at one time
contained an image but of which no knowledge can be obtained. It may
have held a statue of the Virgin and Child and be the origin of the
school seal, as a writer in the _Giggleswick Chronicle_, March 1907,
suggests, but the chantry was not dedicated to the Virgin, it was the
"Chaunterie of the Rode" and as such we should expect to find a crucifix
with the Virgin standing by it.
[Illustration: FIRST SCHOOL, 1512.]
There is only one other record of the School during the next thirty
years but it is a very important one, for it shows that the School was
not restricted to the village but encouraged boarders from distant
villages and towns. About the year 1516 William Malhame writes to his
brother John:
"Brother, I will Sir W. Martyndale to be Parish Priest at
Marton, and to have like wages that Sir W. Hodgson had: and I
will Sir W. Hodgson to have vj markes yearly during his life, to
tarry at Marton and pray for mee and my father and mother's
sawles. They both begin their service at Midsomer next coming. I
am content that James Smith go to Sir James Carr to scoule at
Michelmas next comyng, and also I am content ye paye for his
bord, which shall be allowed ye ageane. From London ye second
day of Aprill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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