Burnley Grammar School

Burnley Grammar School was latterly, a state-funded selective boys grammar school, situated in Byron Street in Burnley, Lancashire. However, during its long history, it moved between a number of sites in the town. History In 1552, on the order of Edward VI of England, Chantries were dissolved, effectively closing the Chantry School in Burnley. The lands that had funded the chantry, were purchased by some of the wealthy men of the parish and granted to the former chantry priests for the rest of their lives. This enabled the chantry school to continue to operate for a few more years. By 1558 it had become obvious that the chantries would not be restored and the men urged the endowment of a Free Grammar School, with additional gifts of land and rents. February 1, 1559, the Habergham deed was sealed marking the beginning of the Burnley Grammar School. The Towneley family - along with the Haydock, Habergham, Woodruff and Whitacre - were the founders and governors of the school. Its first headmaster was a former chantry priest, Gilbert Fairbank, with lessons initially taught at his home next to St Peter's Church. In 1602, one of the governors, John Towneley, paid for a new schoolhouse to be built in the churchyard.