Established | 1549 |
---|---|
Closed | 1982 |
Type | Independent Day and boarding |
Religion | Church of England |
Last headmaster | J. C. Wolters |
Last chairman of governors | George Boscawen, 9th Viscount Falmouth |
Location |
Truro Cornwall TR1 England |
Students | 321 (1968) |
Gender | Boys |
Ages | 7–18 |
Houses | Trewinnard Court (for boarders) |
Former pupils | Old Truronians |
Truro Cathedral School was a Church of England school for boys in Truro, Cornwall. An ancient school refounded in 1549 as the Truro Grammar School, after the establishment of Truro Cathedral in the last quarter of the 19th century it was responsible for educating the cathedral's choristers and became known as the Cathedral School.
The school closed in July 1982 and the education of choristers was delegated to other schools.
An ancient foundation, the school existed before the Reformation as the chantry school of St Mary's Church, Truro. In 1549, following Edward VI's Abolition of Chantries Act of 1547 which suppressed all chantries, the school was refounded and took on a new identity as Truro Grammar School. However, as reported by Nicholas Carlisle in his survey of 1818, "The Grammar School at Truro owes its origin and endowment to some benevolent person, whose name is now not known." The best evidence of the refounding of the school is an entry in the Journal of the House of Commons dated 21 May 1689, which refers to the grammar school being founded by a deed, since lost, of the third year of King Edward VI.
In 1767, the Rev. St John Eliot, a former Rector of Truro, founded two Exhibitions tenable only at Exeter College, Oxford, worth £30 a year each, with preference to be given to boys from the school. In 1818 Carlisle reported that over the previous ten years the number of scholars had been about fifty and that
The School is a venerable Structure, 42 feet in length by 28 feet in breadth, and 18 1/2 feet in height to the ceiling, with pillars and pilasters of the Corinthian order. Adjoining, is a Library, filled with excellent editions of the Classics and other valuable Works, which are under the sole control of the Master... The Eton Latin and Greek Grammars are at present in use; and the system of Education is similar to that of ETON COLLEGE.