GIGGLESWICK Church had been given to the Priory of Finchale by Henry de Puteaco about 1200, and Finchale was a cell of the Prior and Convent of Durham. So from that date till the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Priors continued to appoint the Vicar. When however in 1548 the church became vacant the rights of the convent were vested in Edward VI and he appointed to the office one of his chaplains John Nowell.

Nothing is known of him. He may have been the brother of Alexander Nowell, a prominent divine both under Mary and her successor, and for a time Head Master of Westminster, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, and for over forty years Dean of S. Paul's. This Alexander was a leader of education; he wrote a Catechism that became a school text-book and he assisted to re-found a free school at Middleton. It is not a wholly unsound conjecture, if we suppose that the John Nowell, who assisted to re-found Giggleswick was, if not a brother, at least a member of the same family as Alexander whose home was at Whalley.

We know at least that he was Vicar of Giggleswick till 1558. During his first five years Richard Carr, assisted for a time by Thomas Iveson, was continuing to teach in the small and irregular building of James, his uncle; and as a stipend he was receiving annually £5 6s. 8d.

This money ceased to be paid after 1553, in which year on May 26 Edward VI "of happy memory" was pleased to grant a Charter to the School and to endow it with property. This he did at the humble petition of John Nowell, vicar, Henry Tennant, gentleman, and other inhabitants of the town and parish of Giggleswick in Craven.

Quite forgetful of the School's previous existence for over half a century, he ordains that "from henceforth there may and shall be one Grammar School ... which shall be called the Free Grammar School of King Edward the Sixth of Giggleswick, and the same School for ever to continue of one Schoolmaster or Headmaster and of one Under Master or Usher."

This limitation of the teaching staff to one Headmaster and one Usher led to serious qualms of conscience among the Governors in the last decade of the eighteenth century, when the revenues and numbers of the School had been very greatly increased. They then added to the number of the staff and discovered that they had contravened the Charter of Edward VI, and this difficulty was one of those that led to the application in 1795 for new Statutes.

It was to be a "free" school, not in any restricted, unusual sense of the word, not free from ecclesiastical interference, that did not come till the nineteenth century, not free from temporal interference, that has never come, but free from fees, giving gratuitous teaching. The Charter was an English document translated into Latin. Hence it is not a question whether the word "libera" can ever be understood in the sense of gratuitous. The Latin word is used as being not the exact, but the nearest equivalent of the English. The Free Grammar School undoubtedly meant exemption from fees and all other meanings are heresies of the nineteenth century, fostered only too willingly by those guardians of Grammar Schools, who were not eager to fill their class-rooms with boys from the locality free of charge and so to exclude the sons of "strangers" who were ready to pay for the privilege. The Charter then named eight men of the more discreet and honest inhabitants of the Town and Parish of Giggleswick to be Governors of the said School. They were:

John Nowell, Vicar.
William Catterall, of Newhall.
Henry Tennant, Gentleman.
Thomas Procter, of Cletehop.
Hugh Newhouse, of Giggleswick.
William Browne, of Settle.
Roger Armisted, of Knight Stayneforde.
William Bank of Fesar.

The Vicar, for the time being, must always be a Governor and with one other he had the sole power of summoning the rest to a meeting. Collectively they could appoint the Headmaster and Usher, make elections to their own body, when any other than the Vicar died or left the neighbourhood, and make statutes and ordinances for the government of the School with the advice of the Bishop of the Diocese. If the Vicar should infringe the said statutes they could for the time being elect another of the inhabitants into his place. They were a corporate body and could have a common seal.

An endowment was provided for them out of the confiscated property of S. Andrewes College, Acaster, in the parishe of Styllingflete in the Countie and Citie of York. Acaster had been founded about 1470 and consisted of three distinct schools, Grammar, Song and Writing, the last intended to "teach all such things as belonged to Scrivener Craft." The property included land in North Cave, South and North Kelthorpe and Brampton. A further grant was made of land in Edderwick, Rise and Aldburgh which had formed part of the endowment of the Chantry of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the parish of Rise and Aldburgh.

These lands were situated in the East Riding and their whole value amounted annually to £23 3s. of which they had to pay an annual rent to the King of sixty-three shillings. The Trustees were further allowed to purchase or receive gifts of land, etc., for the maintenance of the School, provided that such additional endowment did not exceed the clear yearly value of £30.

The grant does not sound over-generous, but it is necessary to multiply money to twenty times its value, in order to obtain a clear estimate of it in this century. On such a computation it would amount to £400 a year after paying the King's rent, and in addition, it would be possible to acquire by gifts or legacies another £600, making a possible income of £1,000. The Common Seal that the Governors used is of an origin altogether obscure. It represents presumably the Virgin and Child while below is the figure of a man praying. Round the rim are the words:

Sigillum Prebendarii de Bulidon

It may be that Bulidon has in course of time been corrupted and that some modernized form of it exists, with records of a collegiate church. It is quite clearly the seal of a canon or prebendary, but as yet no one has discovered his church or his name. Perhaps Nowell was a prebendary and this was his seal, which he transferred to the Governors for their corporate use.

The Governors were empowered to make "de tempore in tempus" fit and wholesome Statutes and Ordinances in writing concerning the Governors ... how they shall behave and bear themselves in their office ... and for what causes they may be removed; and touching the manner and form of choosing and nominating of the chief master and undermaster, and touching the ordering, government and direction of the chief master and undermaster and of the scholars of the said School, which said Statutes were to be inviolately observed from time to time for ever.

No record remains of Statutes made in accordance with this royal permission until thirty-nine years later. Custom no doubt played a great part in the government of the School and it continued steadily on the lines first laid down by James Carr. But towards the close of the century the country was awakening from the materialism which had girt it round. The danger of invasion had passed away. The seeds of religious fervour were bearing fruit. A militant, assertive Puritanism was vigorously putting forward its feelers throughout the length and breadth of England, nor was education the last to be affected. Throughout history it has been the aim of the enthusiast to make education conform to a single standard. Sometimes it has been the value of the disputation, sometimes of the sense of Original Sin, sometimes of the classics. At the close of the sixteenth century Original Sin had become an important factor in the theories of the expert, and its presence is marked in the Giggleswick Ancient Statutes of 1592.

On Sunday the 2nd of July, 1592, between the hours of three and five in the afternoon, Christopher Foster, public notary and one of the Proctors of the Consistory Court at York, appeared personally before John, Archbishop of York, in the great chamber of the Palace at Bishopthorp. He there presented his letters mandatory, sealed with the common seal, for Christopher Shute, Clerk, Bachelor of Divinity, Vicar of the Parish Church of Giggleswick, Henry Tenant, Antony Watson, Richard Chewe, gentlemen, Thos. Banckes, and Roger Carre, yeomen.

He had brought with him "Letters Patent wrote on vellum of the late King Edward the Sixth of happy memory concerning the foundacion of the said ffree Grammar School and sealed with the great seal of England." These he shewed to the Archbishop together with certain wholesome Statutes and Ordinances, which they had determined upon. The Archbishop consented to deliberate concerning the matter and consulted with counsel learned in the law in that behalf. Later on the 3rd day of October after mature deliberation, he was pleased to transmit the said Statutes to be registered in the Chancellor's Court at York by the hands of John Benet, Doctor of Laws and Vicar General. The Statutes were accordingly confirmed and remained valid for over two hundred years.

The Governors bound themselves to choose from time to time men of true and sound religion, fearing God and of honest conversation. In spite of these somewhat grandiose qualifications it was found necessary to make a second regulation by which each Governor on his election should protest and swear before the Vicar of Giggleswick and the rest of the Governors to be true and faithful towards the School and its emoluments and profits and not to purloin or take away any of the commodities of the same, whereby it might be impoverished or impaired in any respect.

The third paragraph provided for the election of a new governor in case of a vacancy occurring through removal from the district or "if any of them be convicted of any notorious cryme:" in his place was to be chosen a godly, discreet, and sober person. Once, at least, every half-year they were to visit the School and examine the labours of the Master and Usher and also the proceedings of the Scholars in good literature. If any fault was to be found in the observation of the Statutes on the part of the Master or Usher or Scholars, the Governors had the right, of admonishing the offenders and if after admonition twice given amendment was not made, they could remove them. On the other hand the control of the Master over the Scholars was not absolute, but was shared with the Governors.

Finally they were to see to the revenues of the School, and to pay stipends to the Master and Usher, "neither shall they make any wilful waste of the profits but be content with a moderate allowance, when they are occupied about the business of the said School."

The Master.

The Master was to be a man fearing God, of true religion and godly conversation, not given to dicing, carding, or any other unlawful games. These Statutes were the outcome of custom and it is not unreasonable to suppose that while such general expressions as true religion and godly conversation represented the national feeling of the time, particular prohibitions of dicing and carding had reference to special weaknesses of the contemporary Master. Thus at Dronfield in 1579 the Master was particularly enjoined not to curse or revile his scholars.

The three following clauses refer to the instruction of the Scholars in godly Authors for Christian Religion, and other meet and honest Authors for more Knowledge of the Liberal Sciences. He shall once every week catechize his Scholars in the Knowledge of the Christian Religion and other godly Duties to the end their Obedience in Life may answer to their proceedings in godly Literature.

He shall not teach them any unsavoury or Popish doctrines or infect their young wits with heresies. He shall not use in the School any language to his Scholars which be of riper years and proceedings but only the Latin, Greek or Hebrew, nor shall he willingly permit the use of the English Tongue to them which are or shall be able to speak Latin. These are regulations typical of the century and we shall return to them more fully on a later page.

Giggleswick was a free school but it was clearly not intended to be only a local school, for the Master was to teach indifferently, that is to say, impartially, the Poor as well as the Rich, and the Parishioner as well as the Stranger, and, as they shall profit in learning, so he shall prefer them, without respect of persons.

Vacations were to consist of two weeks at Easter, three weeks at Christmas, and three weeks to be by the said Master appointed when he thinketh it most convenient for his Scholars to be exercised in writing under a Scrivener for their better exercise in that faculty; provided that he could also upon any convenient occasion grant an intermission from study, in any afternoon, whensoever he seeth the same expedient or necessary. He himself could not be absent at any other time above six days, in any one quarter without the special license of the Governors.

For these pains and labours he was to receive as recompense the yearly stipend of twenty marks or £13 6s. 8d. of lawful English money, to be paid twice in the year in equal portions at the feast of S. Peter Advincula and at the feast of the Purification of Our Lady. Lastly he was not to "begyne to teache or dismiss the schoole without convenient prayers and thankesgyveing in that behalfe publiquely to be used."

The Usher.

The Usher likewise was to be a man "of sounde religion and sober lyfe and able to train up the youth in godliness and vertue:" obedient to the Master and directed by him in his teaching. Every year he was to prefer one whole form or "seedge" to the Master's erudition and if they failed, he would stand subject to censure from the Master and Governors.

He was not to absent himself more than four days in any quarter without license from the Master and Governors and in the absence of the Master was to supply his office. For this he received just half the former's yearly stipend, or £6 13s. 4d., to be paid in equal portions twice in the year.

Together they had to begin work every morning at 6-30, "if they shall see it expedient," and continue till 11-0 a.m. Then they had a rest till 1-0 o'clock, after which they worked till 5-0 p.m.; except during the winter season when the times of beginning of the school and dismissing of the same shall be left to the discretion of the Master. They could with the assent of the Archbishop of York and upon admonition twice given be expelled from their office or upon one admonition or two be fined or censured according to the quality of their offence.

The Scholars.

The Governors alone, with the consent of the Master, could expulse a Scholar for rebelliously and obstinately withstanding the Master or Usher; but if any scholar, upon proof first had, should be found altogether negligent or incapable of learning, at the discretion of the Master he could be returned to his friends to be brought up in some other honest trade and exercise of life.

They could not be absent without leave: and if they did not obey the two Prepositors, by the Master to be appointed for order and quietness in the School they were to be subject to the severe censure of the Master or Usher. Lastly if they behaved themselves irreverently at home or abroad towards their parents, friends, or any others whatsoever, or complained of correction moderately given them by the Master or Usher, they were to be severely corrected for the same.

The stipends of the Master and Usher were not wholly ungenerous. Mulcaster, who had founded Merchant Taylors' School and had two hundred and fifty boys under his charge received only £10: at Rotherham the Grammar Master received £10 15s. 4d.; this was in 1483 but it was extremely good pay for the period. Even Eton College which had a revenue of over £1,000 at the time of Edward VI's Chantry Commissioners' Report was only paying its Schoolmaster £10. It is true that these Schools had also a varying number of boys paying small fees, but such additional income was not part of the foundation. For Giggleswick with a revenue of £20 (exclusive of the King's rent of £3 3s.) and a further possible revenue of £30, to pay the whole of its £20 as a stipend to the Headmaster and Usher was a distinctly liberal proceeding.

The discretionary power of the Master with regard to the discipline of the School appears to be greatly limited. He is bidden appoint two prepositors, he is even advised as to some particular occasions on which he shall correct the scholars. But these regulations probably only codify existing custom, and in practice, no doubt, the Master would find himself almost entirely free from control. Nevertheless such regulations were not without their danger.