ermysted's grammar school
Skipton
Ermysted’s is an ancient grammar school, founded over 500 years ago. It was long
believed to be William Ermysted who founded the school some time before his
death in 1558 but research in 1948 revealed an earlier history, dating back to
at least 1492 and possibly earlier to 1468. So William Ermysted was in fact the
school’s second benefactor, the original founder being Peter Toller. Peter
Toller Some time before his death in 1492, Peter Toller, who was then rector of
Linton-in-Craven and Dean of Craven, founded in Skipton Parish Church the
Chantry of Saint Nicholas, to which he attached a Free Grammar School to educate
the children of the town. In 1492 according to his will, the Chantry School
received all his lands and tenements in Skipton, Addingham, Eastby, Draughton
and Hellifield, together with a sum of money to pay for ornaments and repairs.
When Henry VIII initiated his reformation of the church, the Chantry of Saint
Nicholas was dissolved and its lands appropriated by the Crown, although the
revenues of the school were continued. William Ermysted William Ermysted had
been a prominent figure in Henry VIII’s London, as Canon of St Paul’s, “clerk of
the King’s Chancery” and Master of the Temple. On the 1st of September 1548
William Ermysted’s re-foundation deeds for the Chantry School were executed and
on 12th December 1551 the deeds were enrolled on the Close Rolls. Essentially
these documents recorded the lands which he wished to present to the School in
order that it be supported in the future and also advised a system of
management, with a teaching regime according to the majority of classically
based grammar schools of the time. William also endowed the school with the
Chapel of St. James, late of the Knights Hospitaler of St. John, purchased from
Henry, Earl of Cumberland in which to house it. The building survives to this
day at the bottom of Shortbank Road and current houses an electricity
substation. William and Sylvester Petyt Between their respective births in 1637
and 1640, and their deaths in 1707 and 1719 William and Sylvester Petyt both
played important roles in the development of the school. On his death in 1707
William Petyt bequeathed a sum of £200 towards the maintenance of Scholars of
Christ’s College, Cambridge for those students who had previously been Scholars
of the Free Grammar School of Skipton-in-Craven. In addition he gave £50 to the
School, which was subsequently used to purchase books for poor scholars. When
William’s brother Sylvester, also a former Scholar of Ermysted’s, died in 1719
he left to the School the huge sum of £30,000 to form the Petyt Trust. This
still provides for various educational functions, including some Speech Day
prizes, although the bulk of the capital was used in the nineteenth century to
endow Skipton Girls’ High School. Sylvester also delivered to Skipton the Petyt
Library comprising of books from his own collection as well as from those of his
brother and friends. Edward Hartley The legacy of the School’s founding fathers
and benefactors survives in the three School Houses of Toller, Ermysted and
Petyt but the fourth House, Hartley, takes its name from the School’s Headmaster
during the period 1876 to 1907. Under Edward Thomson Hartley, Ermysted’s moved
from the Chapel bequeathed to it by Ermysted to its present Gargrave Road site.
Originally thirteen boys made the move in 1877, but under Hartley’s dynamic
leadership the School flourished and added to the original School House the Gym
and Pool, the Science Department, Staff Study, and the Craft Workshops.
Ermysted’s in the 20th Century In 1913 £1,000 was given by friends of the School
to improve the Playing Field, and in 1920 the School Library was built, funded
by Old Boys, as a memorial to those Scholars who fell during the Great War. In
1946 an appeal was made to provide a worthy memorial to the Old Boys of
Ermysted’s who lost their lives in the Second World War. Numerous Old Boys,
Governors, pupils, parents, members of the Staff and other valued friends of the
School generously contributed upwards of £17,000 towards the cost of the
Memorial Hall, the Organ and the alterations to Big School, the Coulthurst Trust
paying for the Organ outright when the Hall was opened in 1959. Throughout its
history it has been an all boys’ school and only relatively recently, in 1989,
was the boarding house closed. Quincentenary Celebrations In 1992 Ermysted’s
celebrated 500 years of excellence, in commemoration of the Quincentenary of the
death of the Chantry School’ founder, Peter Toller. The year’s celebrations were
marked by a visit from the Princess Royal on the 1 June. To commemorate the
Quincentenary a Sports Hall was erected between the School and cricket pitch,
opened on Speech Day 1994 by Sir Peter Yarranton, Chairman of the Sports
Council. £350,000 was raised toward the cost of this venture through the
generosity of pupils, teachers, parents, Old Boys, Governors and friends of the
School, with the balance met from Foundation Funds. Founders’ Day is held
annually in the Autumn Term with a service held in Holy Trinity Church in
Skipton commemorating the foundation of the School over five hundred years ago.
Building Developments In 2001, the School was successful in a bid to the DfE to
provide new CDT facilities and additional classrooms (designated for the English
Department). Aided by additional finance available to Voluntary Aided schools,
together with a generous donation from the Wolfson Foundation, the former CDT
facilities were turned into two additional science laboratories. At the same
time, four of the present six science laboratories underwent considerable
refurbishment.
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