the king's school
In 1335 Bishop John de Grandisson bought the manor of Ottery St Mary from the
Dean and Chapter of Rouen who had owned it since 1061. He obtained a royal
licence from Edward III to found his College of Secular Canons and established a
choir school in Ottery St Mary in 1335 for eight boys and a Master of Grammar.
The school did not start very promisingly in 1337 with the members of the
choir-school being accused of “dissolute and insolent behaviour in the parish”.
Flogging was the order of the day, Bishop Grandisson being something of a
disciplinarian, but as this did not work the boys were heavily fined for every
day’s absence from the choir. For over two hundred years the canons carried out
Bishop Grandisson’s instructions and the choir school boys were educated. During
these two hundred years the English long-bowmen fought and won the battles of
Crecy (1346) and Agincourt (1415), parts of England were ravaged by the Wars of
the Roses (1455-1485) and the Welshman Henry Tudor restored some peace and order
before passing the throne to his son Henry VIII. Eventually the Reformation
reached the College and in 1545 it was dissolved. However upon some whim or
persuasion he was prompted to establish a free grammar school.- hence “The
King’s School”. The site occupied by the school today on the outskirts of Ottery
St Mary dates to 1912.
