Burnley Grammar School
| Established | 1559 |
|---|---|
| Closed | 1981 |
| Type | Grammar school |
| Location |
Byron Street Burnley Lancashire England  Coordinates: 53°47′42″N 2°17′35″W / 53.795°N 2.293°W |
| Local authority | Lancashire |
| Gender | Male |
| Ages | 11–18 |
Burnley Grammar School was latterly, a state-funded selective boys grammar School, situated in Byron Street in Burnley, England. However, during its long history, it moved between a number of sites in the town.
In 1552, on the order of Edward VI of England, Chantries were dissolved, effectively closing the Chantry School in Burnley. The lands that had funded the chantry, were purchased by some of the wealthy men of the parish and granted to the former chantry priests for the rest of their lives. This enabled the chantry school to continue to operate for a few more years.
By 1558 it had become obvious that the chatries would not be restored and the men urged the endowment of a Free Grammar School, with additional gifts of land and rents. On the 1 February 1559, the Habergham deed was sealed marking the beginning of a Burnley Grammar School. The Towneley family, along with the Haydock, Habergham, Woodruff and Whitacre's, provided the first founders and governors of the school.
Its first headmaster was a former chantry priest, Gilbert Fairbank, with lessons initially taught at his home next to St Peter's Church (53°47′31″N 2°14′24″W / 53.792°N 2.240°W). In 1602, one of the governors, John Towneley, paid for a new schoolhouse to be built in the churchyard.
There was a dispute throughout the 1680s between the Catholic Towneleys and the school’s other, now Anglican governors over the choice of schoolmasters. This resulted in the building in 1693, by the Anglicans of a new schoolhouse (53°47′35″N 2°14′24″W / 53.793°N 2.240°W), across the River Brun in an area then known as Brown Hill. In 1728 the Suffolk-based, Burnley born clergyman, Henry Halstead left a large collection of Books to the School’s library.
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