Elizabeth College, Guernsey

Elizabeth College
The main building of Elizabeth College, designed by John Wilson,
Location
St Peter Port, Guernsey Channel Islands
Coordinates	49°27′22″N 2°32′24″W / 49.4560°N 2.5401°W / 49.4560; -2.5401Coordinates: 49°27′22″N 2°32′24″W / 49.4560°N 2.5401°W / 49.4560; -2.5401
Information
Type	Public school
Motto	″Semper Eadem″ (Always the Same)
Established	1563
Founder	Elizabeth I of England
Principal	George Hartley
Gender	Secondary (11-18yrs) All-male Junior and Pre-School (3-11yrs) Mixed
Enrolment	750 (2011)
Area	69 acres
Song	Carmen Elizabethanum
Rival	Victoria College, Jersey
Website	http://www.elizabethcollege.gg

Secondary (11-18yrs) All-male

Elizabeth College is a single sex, independent school in the town of St Peter Port, Guernsey. It was founded in 1563 under the orders of Queen Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth College was founded in 1563 under the orders of Queen Elizabeth I. It was the fourth school to be established on the island; the others being the (loose) equivalent of primaries in St Peter Port, St Peter's and St Martin's. The first schoolmaster was Belgian scholar Adrian Saravia, who went on to become one of the translators of the King James Bible. In order to create a site for the college, Franciscan friars were moved from their lands on La Rue Des Frères. The college still occupies this site. The college lands extended from College Street through the Grange all the way to Upland Road. However, the main college building of the time was the Cottage on the corner of the current campus, near to the top of Smith Street (Le Rue des Forges).

Until the 19th century the school was poorly administered, and there was frequently only a very small number of pupils. In 1824 the governor of the island, Sir John Colborne, established a committee to perform a full review of the school. By 1826 there was a new staff and a more complete curriculum, and the school was in a position to attract fee-paying pupils from England. On 19 October 1826 the foundation stone of a new building was laid, and the school was renamed as the Royal College of Elizabeth. The building, which remains a prominent feature of the St Peter Port skyline, was designed by John Wilson, who was also the architect of the French Halles, Castle Carey and the former Church of St James the Less.

The entire school was evacuated during World War II to Great Hucklow in Derbyshire as a result of the German occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany. Tradition says that a ghost of one of the Nazi soldiers walks the corridors at night. The tennis court at the front of the main school is built on the roof of a bunker that was built by the Germans, primarily as a secure holding area for weapons and ammunition.