A History of Giggleswick School from its Foundation, 1499 to 1912

by Edward Allen Bell

In August, 1845, the Governing Body—eight discreet men—met to appoint Ingram's successor. There was, as in 1800, a strong list of applicants, but the choice fell unanimously on the Rev. George Ash Butterton, D.D., late Fellow of S. John's College, Cambridge, and at the time Headmaster of Uppingham School. As a boy he had been fortunate enough to have been one of Kennedy's Sixth Form pupils at Shrewsbury School, and his subsequent success at Cambridge shewed that he was among the ablest Scholars of his year.

The first three years passed uneventfully. Small alterations were made in the School, and with the aid of £150 from the Governors, he added a wing to his house at Craven Bank. In 1849 he desired the Governors, in accordance with the scheme, to appoint a Master for teaching Modern Languages, but they were unwilling to do this "until such addition shall have been made to the School, as will afford suitable accommodation for such a Master and his class." This is the first intimation that the Governors were considering the question of building. Complaints had been made before that numbers were increasing and exceeding the limits of the room or the staff, but nothing had been done. Now, however, the question was actively taken up.

The immediate resolve was to build an addition of a Library and a Class-room for Modern Languages, and further to raise the School-rooms and give them better light and ventilation. Many Subscriptions were offered by the Masters, Old Pupils, and other friends of the School, towards a more ornamental style of building than the School funds could afford. The Architects' plans grew, and it was soon found that very little of the old structure would remain. Consequently in 1850 it was decided to build the School afresh from its foundations.

THE OLD SCHOOL.

Finance troubled the Governors much, for they did not feel justified in spending more Trust money than was essential for the upkeep of the School. The Library and the new Class-room were essential, and the Governors were prepared to find the money for them, but the rest they hoped to receive from outside help. They put forward a statement of the need, and the resulting subscriptions were very satisfactory. Two Old Boys and sons of the Usher, the Rev. John Saul Howson and his brother George Howson, undertook the entire expense of the Ornamental Doorway. The relatives of the Rev. John Carr, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Durham, put in a long window immediately above the doorway. In this window is a representation of John Carr, the Headmaster up to 1744. Further, £50 remained over from the Ingram Testimonial Fund, and was now to be applied to the decorating of a window in the Library with stained glass.

The building was substantial and sound. The main part consisted of two long Class-rooms, one on the ground floor, one above. These both ran the whole length of the building, until the Library was reached which with the Modern Language Room formed a transverse addition. A stone staircase, winding and unexpectedly long, ascended from the main entrance, and at its top was the High or Writing School. In the Class-room below were two platforms, now disappeared, the one by the door for the Usher's desk, the one by the Library for the Master. The Modern Language Room opened into it. There were two doors, one the main entrance chiefly used by the boys, the other smaller and undistinguished for the Masters only. It led into the Library and into a Tower, where the School bell was. The Library was not very big but a long narrow room, and inset in the wall was a fire-proof safe, for the better preservation of the Charter and other documents. It alone has continued to serve its original purpose. It is not possible to judge accurately the difference in size between this building and its predecessor, but it was distinctly bigger. The poplars which are to be seen in the photograph of the Drawing of the 1790 School were felled for the new one and the School filled the space. In addition there was a cloister-like building at the back, where in hours of play refuge might be sought from the weather.

The total cost was over £2,000, or more than seven times as much as its predecessor. Much of the money came from subscriptions, some from the surplus income of the School, but the rest was obtained by selling out £645 7s. 2d. New 3¼ per cent. Stock belonging to the Exhibition Fund. The Governors pledged themselves to pay 3½ per cent. to the Exhibition Fund, thus depleted, and to repay the principal out of surplus income at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum, or more, if convenient. It was represented that this would at once be an advantage to the Exhibition Fund and also an economical method of borrowing the necessary money. The money was repaid by 1855.

PORCH OF THE OLD SCHOOL.