HISTORY OF CAISTOR GRAMMAR SCHOOL

FOUNDATION AND ENDOWMENT

The Caistor Free Grammar School was established by the benefaction of two local landowners. A school house in Caistor was first provided for under the terms of the will of William Hansard of Beskingthorpe [Biscathorpe], Lincoln, dated 18 Mar 1627. 

This school was to provide for the instruction of youth in good literature, religion, and duty towards God and man. The school master was to be paid a yearly stipend of £30, whilst the under school masters were to be paid the yearly stipend of £15. 

The school was also endowed by the will of Frances Rawlinson, Rector of South Kelsey, in 1630. As Rawlinson died first, he became the founder, and the resources of both wills combined, with Hansard being designated as a benefactor upon his death. 

The money was invested for the support of the teachers; the master to be paid out of the Rectorial Tithes of Bilsby and Asserby; and the usher to be paid from the rent of a farm and land at Cumberworth [this estate was sold c.1912/1913 for £2000].

MANAGEMENT

The patronage and trusteeship of the school was vested in the Boucherett family as heirs of Sir Edward Ayscough. Under the original terms of endowment the patron and trustee were responsible for the appointment of the school master and usher. 

A new scheme for the schools management was produced by the Charity Commissioners in 1885. The first meeting of the Governors instituted under the new scheme took place on 12 Aug 1885, and was chaired by the ex-officio Vicar of Caistor. 

The management of the school was handed over to the board of education following the 1902 Education Act. In 1959 there were LEA plans to close the school which ultimately came to nothing, and the school is currently run as a selective state school.

STAFF AND PUPILS

The first known school master was William Metcalf, succeeded by Timothy Welfit in 1640, and other masters included Samuel Rolt, Vicar of Caistor, between 1722 and 1743, who went on to be master of Lincoln Grammar School, and Dr William Ellis who was master between 1837 and 1853. 

Up to 1770 it was common place for the mastership to be given to the Vicar of Caistor, and after this date there was generally a connection between the mastership and the anglican church. 

The first mistress was appointed in 1908 to allow for the admission of girls into the school. The post was filled by a Miss Edith L. Richards, BA.

SCHOOL BUILDING

The original ironstone School Hall dates from 1631 and is still in use. During the 1830s extensive repair work carried out, funded mainly by donation, and in October 1836 the National Schoolroom on Bank Street was being used whilst the said repair work was being undertaken. 

At this time work was carried out on the south side of the building, the facade was topped by a parapet, and a partition was erected inside the building to separate the two classrooms.

In 1907 an appeal was sent out by the Governors to the local land owners, and in 1909 two new classrooms were built. In 1919 Grove House was purchased. In 1920 land belonging to Lord Tennyson, situated just beyond the original schoolhouse, was purchased, and this became the site of a new teaching block built in the 1930s and extended and modernised in 1984. 

The Manning Building was opened in 1984 and contains a large gymnasium. It has recently been enlarged to provide extra classrooms and a state of the art fitness suite. 

Two new Technology Buildings were added in 1993 and 1994. There is currently a Sixth Form Centre that occupies Casterby House, once a large private house and which overlooks the churchyard from the far side of the school gates. 

The School Library, established during the head mastership of Henry Ernest James Coxon, is now housed in what was the Congregational Church built in 1842.