Penistone Grammar School is amongst the oldest schools in the country, with a history stretching back some 632-years to when Thomas Clarel, Lord of the Manor at Penistone, granted to John Del Rhodes “and others” land at Kirk Flatt, Penistone in 1392. Further bequests were subsequently made to the school, including in 1443. A manorial roll dated 1491 refers to the Kirk Flatt land as ‘le scholehill’. (Addy, 1958; Dransfield, 1906)

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The school’s early history, as the Free Grammar School of Penistone, was marked by strong relations with the Church, with Headmasters coming from the clergy until 1556, when John Hyde, MA (Cantab) was the first Headmaster to not hold a role in the Church.

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The school flourished under a series of able, well-educated Masters, and the earlier school (of which very few records exist) was demolished and rebuilt under the tenure of John Ramsden (1702-26), in 1716. The new buildings were designed to be more spacious and to allow more boarders, bringing prestige to Penistone.

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Around this time, in the late 17th century, Nicholas Saunderson was a pupil. He is noted as the probable discoverer of Bayes’ Theorem and was a blind mathematician who left PGS for the University of Cambridge where he became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a post also held by Isaac Newton – a close friend of his.

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There is a history of parishioner and parent involvement at PGS, even in this period. In December 1784, parishioners of Penistone signed a petition to Mr S Stanhope, Esq, trustee, asserting their confidence in the schoolmaster, Mr J Horsfall, who had fallen into disfavour with the trustees (Dransfield, 1906). In 1855, a petition was presented requesting that the Grammar School ceased to be a public school, rather returning to its free grammar school roots, and that the large endowment of the school be made more productive for Penistonians more widely (Simms, 1965).

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In 1856, School Terrace was built, which stands to this day (on Church Street), and the vast majority of which remains the property of the school’s Foundation. 1892 saw the school’s 500-year anniversary celebrated, a tradition continued with a 600-year celebration in 1992. The latter led to the installation of a commemorative stained-glass window at Penistone Church.

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In 1893, PGS moved to Weirfield House, near to its current site, after parts of the old school estate were purchased for £2,300 for the purpose of building a bank. That same year, Joseph Woodward Fulford, CBE, MA (Dubl) became Headmaster. Under his 28-year tenure (1893–1921), girls were admitted for the first time in 1907, ending 515-years of single-sex education, though fully co-educational education came later. The school, by now a fee-paying private school, flourished. Weirfield House had been converted from a country home to a school with science laboratories, offices, classrooms, a gymnasium, and boarding facilities.

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A strong reputation was built for the school sending scholars to the University of Cambridge, and on 28 October 1911, a new, purpose-built building for a considerable number of pupils was opened (later named Fulford or ‘A’ block). As a condition for partial aid with funding from the West Riding County Council, an agreement was reached to admit a fourth of the school’s pupils on day scholarships.

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At the end of Fulford’s reign, the school became a day school, and Guy Wilfred Morris, BA (1921-28) took over.  Morris is noted for his focus on the development of a sixth form at Penistone during his tenure. At the end of the First World War, the school created a wooden plaque, inscribed with the names of Old Penistonians who had lost their lives, which was hung in the Fulford library/hall. This plaque remains with the school.

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The school’s expansion continued, with several new buildings erected under Eric Fisher Bowman, MA (Oxon) (1928-58). He oversaw PGS become a state school in 1951, and the partial end of selection in 1957, for which he delayed his retirement; a revolution in education. His successor, Wilfred Burgess Simms, MA (Oxon) (1958-76) oversaw the school purchase the former Penistone Union Workhouse (Netherfield), which became the sixth form (1974). Simms was a true scholar, and wrote countless detailed essays regarding the school’s history, based on our archives, which he helped save from possible destruction.

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Under Martin Antony (Tony) Bould, BA (1976-97), a hard-fought battle to keep the school’s sixth form open was won, which benefits pupils to this day.

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In the early 2010s, the school began to be rebuilt. The work was complete by 2011, and all of PGS’ former buildings were demolished, excluding Weirfield, C-block, School Terrace, our building on St Mary’s Street, and the Kirk Flatt cottages. Regrettably, that includes the Fulford building (1911) and Netherfield Workhouse complex (1859). Under the former, a time capsule was discovered, the contents of which remain in the school’s on-site archive. Weirfield House was converted into flats, though it and C-block are still viewable from the tranquil sixth form garden.

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A new war memorial for Old Penistonians who served in WWI, WWII, and Afghanistan is now prominently on the school’s grounds, with an annual service. The school’s Foundation funded the memorial.

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Traditionally, the school’s logo was either the Clarel coat-of-arms or a badge based upon it, which is used throughout Penistone. The ancient motto, used until the early noughties, was ‘Disce aut Discede’ (‘learn or leave’). A stone inscription of this motto is at Weirfield, having been moved from the Kirk Flatt site school, and potentially its predecessor.

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The school now flourishes, and has retained many of its historical artefacts, which are now prominently displayed across the school’s estate. In 2023, the former Penistone Workhouse Master’s chair was returned to the school from Penistone Church, as was the WWI memorial, and another inscribed PGS chair. A year later, the traditional Clarel badge was restored as the school’s logo, and the house system was re-invigorated, to better represent PGS’ alumnae and the Clarel family.

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Jacob Sammon

Head Boy (2022-23); student (2018-25)

First written Dec 2022; edited Oct 2023, June 2024

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