Big School

This building is the oldest part of Boston Grammar School, constructed between 1567 and 1568. It comprised the entire school for nearly three centuries before additions were made. Older alumni will know it as the Big School, though it has served as the school library since 1961. It is a Grade II listed building.

16th Century

Following the founding of the school by Letters patent in 1555, premises in Wormgate were used until the corporation provided new premises. On 19 May 1567 it was decided that "ther shall be a new Scholehouse erected in the Hallgarth" and once the decision was made no time was wasted. The building was completed within a year.

In the following April it was reported that just over £195 "one hundryth fower schore fyftene pounds and eleven pence of lawful money of England" had been expended "in and abowte the buyldynge of the new Schoole House, aswell in woodd tymber stone as all so ye workmanshippe..." The final payment, of four pounds for "2000 thatche tile" was "delivered to John Dixon for his Scholehouse" the next October. They built better than they knew. The school remained largely unaltered, and not extended, until 1850.

An inscription in Latin over the north door reads: "Anno 1567, Reginae Elizabethae nono Maior et Burgenses Bostoniae uno et eodem concensu puerorum institutionis gratia in piis litteris hanc aedificverunt Scholam, Gulielmo Ganocke, Stapli mercatore, et tunc maiore existente." (In 1567, in the ninth year of Queen Elizabeth, the Mayor and Burgesses of Boston unanimously agreed to build this school for the instruction of boys in sound learning, William Gannock, merchant of the staple, being Mayor at that time.)

An engraving of 1821, showing the school before further extensions were made

The Latin inscription over the north door - dated 1567

The Grammar School, 1567 according to the programme for the Pageant of Boston, 1951

19th Century

In 1850 a lobby / entrance porch was added at the north end of the Big School (the end closer to what is now Rowley Road).

Six years later, in 1856, a classroom was added at the south end. This second extension was of similar size to the first and was erected by Charity Trustees at a cost of about £160. An inscription over the entrance door states: "This wing erected A.D. MDCCCLVI"

In 1862, stained glass figures were installed in the five windows at the north end, following a subscription started by past and present pupils. In the centre is a representation of Elizabeth I, the reigning monarch at the time the Big School was completed in 1568. She is flanked on her right by Lord Burghley and William Shakespeare, and on her left by Francis Bacon and Francis Drake.

In 1866 another classroom was added, this time to the entrance porch at the north end of the original building.

Engraving showing the 1850 entrance porch on the left hand side, at the north end of Big School.

The north stained glass panels installed in 1862. From left to right: Burghley, Shakespeare, Elizabeth I, Bacon, Drake.

Photograph of Big School and the three Victorian extensions. On the left hand side is the 1850 entrance porch (in the foreground) along with the 1866 classroom (rising above it in the background). Big School is in the centre. On the right hand side is the 1856 classroom.

20th Century

Memorial plaques

During the first half of the 20th Century, the Old Bostonian Association (OBA) erected a number of memorial plaques as a tribute to prominent teachers. These included:

• 1902 - John Francis Bazlinton and George Edwin Pattenden (both inscriptions written in Latin)
• 1914 - Albert Harold Cawood and William White
• 1950 - Arthur Hill

Quater-Centenary Window

1955 marked the 400th anniversary of the granting of the school charter. To help commemorate this quater-centenary, it was decided to insert ten stained glass panels into the large bay window on the west side of the Big School. These panels illustrated various aspects of the school’s history, symbolically linking the school of 1555 to that of 1955. Installed in 1956, they were designed by Alfred L. Wilkinson, Secretary of the British Society of Master Glass Painters.

Lower Tier panels

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  Panel 1: A typical schoolboy of 1555 holding a birch and a slate inscribed with Queen Mary I's motto "Veritas temporis filia"; the Old School-House in Wormgate upon the cartouche.

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  Panel 2: The Beast Mart held in the Mart Yard, now the school playground, with a windmill of the period, and the tower of the Church of St Botolph, which appears also in Panel 4 to emphasise continuity.

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  Panel 3: Queen Mary I holding the Charter, with King Philip in the background.

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  Panel 4: The annual proclamation of the Beast Mart, with aircraft to contrast with the windmill of Panel 2, and the tower of St Botolph as before.

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  Panel 5: A modern (as of 1955) schoolboy; the School Motto in the cartouche.

Upper Tier panels

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  Panel 1:The arms of the Borough of Boston, the recipient of the Charter. The shield, without the supporters, is used as the school crest.

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  Panel 2:A ship of the period, with the emblems of the scythe, hook and spade in the cartouche.

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  Panel 3:Illustrating the trading associations of Boston, especially in wool particularly with the Hanseatic League; the shields of the Merchants of the Staple, the Merchant Adventurers or Hamborough Merchants, and the Flanders or Brabant Merchants; five small shields of the main towns of the Hanseatic League, i.e. Bremen, Brunsiwck, Cologne, Danzig, Lubeck.

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  Panel 4:Inshore fishing smacks; a dock crane and a pneumatic drill in the cartouche

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  Panel 5:The arms of Holland County Council, which in 1955 was associated with the government of the school.

Part of a letter from Chris Gilding (BGS 1950-1957) was reproduced in the February 1997 issue of The Old Bostonian:

...because of an interest in the stained glass window in the bay window half way down the hall where the headmaster stood every morning.

I was one of three or four boys who were used as 'models' by the designer for the boy in school uniform depicted in the window. This was in the mid-50s and was for an anniversary of the school...

Cliff Naylor was one of the others. I don't recall recognising any particular likeness in the finished product.

Conversion to school library

The idea of using the building as the school library was first formally proposed in 1957, as the new Assembly Hall was being built and was intended to host most large gatherings. The proposal was put into effect four years later, in 1961, when the Big School was renovated and converted into its current function as the school library at a cost of about £2,000.

House windows

In 1968, to mark the 400th anniversary of the Big School being built, four more stained glass panels were installed along its west side. These depict the men after whom the school Houses are named: Robert of Muston, William Gannock, John Laughton and Thomas Parry.

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  Muston

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  Gannock

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  Laughton

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  Parry

Refurbishment

In 1996 the library underwent an extensive refurbishment, including provision of new furniture and installation of a small IT suite.

21st Century

In 2002 the Old Bostonian Association opened a small museum in the room at the north end of the library, displaying exhibits from the school's history.

On 5 December 2013 the library suffered flood damage and was closed for several months, re-opening in June 2014 following repairs.

Other exterior photographs and drawings

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  The library photographed in 1998

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  The library photographed in 1998

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  The Grammar School, 1905 postcard

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  The Big School, date unknown

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  Drawing of Boston Grammar School in "Our Old Country Towns", 1881

Interior photographs

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  The Big School, date unknown

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  The Big School, date unknown

See Also

• Timeline of BGS history
• Boston Grammar School - A Short History
• William John Ricketts
• Parry Gold Medal
• War Memorials
• Science Blocks
• Speech Day
• Tuck Shop
• The Jim Howes Memorial Cup
• Swimming pool
• Dining Halls
• Timeline of Buildings
• Quadrangle