Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Crediton

In 1547 the grammar school was founded and endowed by Edward VI. In 1559 it was "further endowed by Queen Elizabeth, who by her charter vested the patronage in the twelve governors of the church, directing them to elect four boys, under the name of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar Scholars, to each of whom 40s. are annually given: there are three exhibitions, of £6. 13s 4d each, to either of the universities, tenable for five years. "{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50904 |title='Creacombe - Cretingham', A Topographical Dictionary of England, pp. 720-725. |year=1848 |quote="The grammar school was founded and endowed by Edward VI, and further endowed by Queen Elizabeth, who by her charter vested the patronage in the twelve governors of the church, directing them to elect four boys, under the name of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar Scholars, to each of whom 40s. are annually given: there are three exhibitions, of £6. 13. 4 each, to either of the universities, tenable for five years. "}}

{{citation |url=http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/Crediton/Crediton1850.html |title=White's Devonshire Directory |year=1850 |quote="Edward VI., in the first year of his reign, by his letters patent, incorporated 12 parishioners by name of the {{sic|the}} Governors of the hereditaments and goods of the Church of Crediton, and vested with them the lands, tithes, &c., which had belonged to the late College of Crediton, and the chapel of St. Swithen, at Sandford and directed them to apply the yearly profits thereof for the support of ... for the support of a Grammar School, .... Queen Elizabeth, by letters patent in the second year of her reign, augmented the possessions of this trust. ... There are belonging to the trust in Crediton, six houses, occupied rent-free by ..., the master of the Grammar School, the master of Dunn's School, ... Out of the income derived from the trust property, they pay the following yearly stipends:- ... about £150 to the master of the Grammar School; £6. 13s. 4d. each to three exhibitioners at the University; £2 each to four poor scholars at Crediton School; £27 to the United English and Blue School;" }}

Teaching began in 1572 in the Lady Chapel of the parish church with 10 pupils{{citation| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101113221323/http://www.localauthoritypublishing.co.uk/councils/crediton/queen.html | archive-date = 13 November 2010 | url=http://www.localauthoritypublishing.co.uk/councils/crediton/queen.html |title =Queen Elizabeths Community |website =Local Authority Publishing |quote=The Royal Free Grammar School was founded by a charter of Edward V1 in 1547. Under a later charter it was named Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School and teaching began in 1572 with just ten scholars in the Lady Chapel of the parish church. In 1861 the school moved to a new building at the western end of the town near the Green. In 1911 Crediton High School for girls opened on the adjoining site. In 1966 the two schools became one co-educational grammar school. }}

In 1861 it moved into new premises (at St Martins Lane).

In 1911 it absorbed Dunn's School.{{citation |url=http://www.heardfamilyhistory.org.uk/Samuel%20Dunn.htm |title=Samuel Dunn 1723 - 1794 |website=The Heard Family of Mid Devon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225101014/http://www.heardfamilyhistory.org.uk/Samuel%20Dunn.htm |archive-date=25 December 2007 |access-date=7 April 2010 |url-status=live }}

It was noted in Hansard in 1952 as a maintained secondary school which provided boarding.{{citation |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1952/jul/23/maintained-secondary-schools |title=Hansard C Deb 23 July 1952 vol 504 c39W |year=1952}}

In 1966 the boys grammar school (between St Martins Lane and Western Road) incorporated the Crediton High School For Girls (which had been founded in 1911 on the adjoining site to the west). To accommodate the merger, a new multistorey block was built (aligned north-south) on the slope between the former schools.

In 1973 it merged with The Shelley Secondary Modern school at Barnfield, Crediton. It now forms the Western Road campus (the upper school) of the Queen Elizabeth's School, which is (in 2016) a state run academy, with some boarding students. The lower and upper schools are split across two sites in Crediton.

{{see also|Category:People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Crediton}}

{{alumni|date=March 2021}}

• John Griffith Bowen, novelist
• Henry Callaway, missionary
• Bill Giles, former BBC weatherman
• Sir Neville Simms, chief executive of Tarmac from 1992 to 1999
• Robert Orchard, BBC parliamentary correspondent. QES 1964–72
• Major Rupert Guy Turrall, Intelligence Corps recipient of MC and DSO in WWII, operations officer with the Chindits

Some of the school records were transferred to the Devon Record Office in 2006.{{cite book|url=http://www.devon.gov.uk/autumn_2006.pdf |work=Devon Record Office News| issue =35 |date=Autumn 2006| title =Acquisitions of Special Interest |page = 4| access-date = 29 April 2018}}

Copies of the 1547 and 1559 charters are held at the Devon Record Office (ref 2065M/SS6/4).[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=027-2065m&cid=7-6-1-3&kw=crediton%20grammar#7-6-1-3 The National Archives | Access to Archives]

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.qe.devon.sch.uk/ Queen Elizabeth's Community college]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111006092202/http://www.heardfamilyhistory.org.uk/photogallery/photo00027385/OldQES.jpg Old QES]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111006092216/http://www.heardfamilyhistory.org.uk/photogallery/photo26003/Crediton%20Grammar.jpg Old grammar school]

{{Schools in Devon}}

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Category:1547 establishments in England

Category:Defunct schools in Devon

Category:Defunct grammar schools in England

Category:Educational institutions established in the 1540s

Category:Educational institutions disestablished in 1973

Category:1973 disestablishments in England

Category:Schools with a royal charter

Category:Crediton