Bury St Edmunds historian Martyn Taylor looks at the origins of Guildhall Feoffment Primary School
The Guildhall Feoffment started in the 15th century as the Candlemas Guild by Jankyn Smyth, perhaps the town’s premier benefactor.
His endowed service of 1481 has been celebrated in St Mary’s Church nearly every year since then, making it perhaps the oldest such service in the country.
After the service a cake and ale ceremony is held in the Guildhall, perhaps the oldest civic building in continuous use in the country, and owned by the Guildhall Feoffment Trust.
The Guildhall Feoffment has remained steadfast in the heritage and history of Bury St Edmunds.
Over the years, the trust and it’s feoffees (another name for trustees) has supported the less well-off of Bury.
For example, with the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 the poor of the town no longer received alms and charity and this shortage was addressed by the Guildhall Feoffment in distributing to the poor.
This beneficence has continued through the centuries with alms houses being owned by the trust throughout the town: Long Row alms houses in Northgate and Southgate Street, College Square and cottages in Hengrave.
The trust has also taken over responsibility in running the Fennel Homes in St Andrew’s Street North.
Moyse’s Hall Museum, The Guildhall and No-mans Meadow, near to the Abbey site, are owned by the trust.
Other important buildings once owned by it were the Angel Hotel and the Shire Hall (magistrates’ courts).
The fact that anybody of any importance in Bury throughout the years was a feoffee meant they were in a position of power.
After the dissolution it was left to the feoffees to run the town and as the abbot was mitred and thus represented the town in parliament, consequently it was not until the 3rd charter of James I/VI of 1614 that we had representation in parliament after an absence of nearly 75 years.
In 1839 a scheme for the future application of the income of the Guildhall Feoffees was proposed for sanction by the Court of Chancery.
Apart from the election of new feoffees, monies were to be given to St James’, St Mary’s and the erection of a new chapel of ease to the latter (built as St Peter’s in 1858).
Other contributions were to the Corporation rates, Suffolk General Hospital and, by specific bequests by the wills of Francis Pynner and Anthony Smith, bread and clothing to be distributed to the poor.
Of course, this also meant that the feoffees could leave in their wills other parcels of land for the benefit of the town, hence three schools came into being.
HOW THE SCHOOLS CAME ABOUT
This is why the Guildhall Feoffment Trust was able to build schools in Bridewell Lane, College Street and on the corner of Well Street/Short Brackland, as they owned this land.
The following are descriptions of how the schools came about: “So it was agreed, three schools shall be erected and supported by the feoffees and be open to the children of all religious denominations and be called: The Guildhall Commercial School, The Guildhall School for Poor Girls and The Guildhall School for Poor Boys and that the sum of £1,650 should be expended on their erection.
“These three free schools were to be established and supported by the Guildhall Feoffment.
“The Commercial School in College Street is a handsome building in the Elizabethan style erected in 1842 and has a playground.
“The master, who must be a member of the Church of England, has £150 per annum from the Feoffees and 5s per quarter from each boy; and the feoffees also pay about £70 a year to assistant masters and £10 for coals etc.
“For their 5s per quarter, 150 boys are here instructed in English and other modern languages, in writing, arithmetic, geography, history and so much of mathematics and the dead languages as deemed necessary (I assume Greek and Latin).
“Mr Thomas Jones B.A. is the headmaster and has a good staff of assistants.
“The Poor Boys School in Bridewell Lane was built in 1843 in the Elizabethan style.
“It has a house for the master and a large and handsome school for 300 boys who pay 1d each per week and are instructed in reading, writing, geography, history etc as well as gardening and some other manual occupations.
“The master has a yearly salary of £90 besides the boys weekly pence and a good residence. The Feoffees also pay about £60 a year for monitors, stationary etc. Mr Henry William Fuller is the headmaster.
“The Poor Girls School in Well Street now occupies a neat brick building erected in 1852 and comprising a house for the mistress and a schoolroom for 150 girls who pay 1d per week and are instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, knitting, sewing and washing etc. The mistress has the scholars pence and a yearly salary of £40. About £30 a year is paid for by the Feoffees for monitors and stationery etc. Mrs Elizabeth Rumbelow is the mistress.”
The various school teachers back then lived in Bury as follows: Mr Thomas Jones, at 14 Orchard Street, Mr Fuller at the school-house in Bridewell Lane and Mrs Rumbelow in Well Street.
THE BUILDINGS THEMSELVES
The feoffment school buildings, masters house, attached walls and gates are Grade II-listed (11/2/1987) and were designed by architect Henry Kendall Junior (1805-1885) whose father of the same name 1776-1875 ran a practice with him at one time at 17 Suffolk Street, London.
They were founders of the Royal Institute of British architects (RIBA).
Because of their names are the same I assume that the younger Henry was the architect as senior would have been around 66 years old when the feoffment schools were built.
The Poor Boys School in Bridewell Lane (once called Mr Andrews Street) has a hall and according to the listing has a five-bay open timber roof in Jacobean style with arch-brace hammer-beam trusses and cusped spandrels to the collar braces and square moulded hanging finials (as per photo).
There are three rows of through purlins. One classroom has a timber arch-braced collar truss.
The exterior of the building is built in red brick with black brick headers, white brick, knapped flint dressings and a slate roof. The listing describes it as in Tudor Gothic style.
Next to the entrance , further classrooms were added in 1882.
After World War Two, temporary huts were added with the acronym HORSA (Hutting operation for raising of school-leaving age).
Constructed from prefabricated concrete walls, asbestos roofs and metal-framed windows they were replaced 2016/17 with further new extensions with the mandatory archaeological dig uncovering remnants of flint walls from a medieval kitchen.
The Commercial School in College Street has a range similar in style to the Poor Boys School and was initially detached but is now linked by 20th century extensions to the main block.
Both of these schools have been somewhat enlarged since then.
The façade of the Commercial School in College Street has seen the stepped parapet with armorial shields, one – to feoffment founder Jankyn Smyth – now gone.
As has a window now bricked up but once set between two others, see comparison photos of 1865 courtesy of Bury Past & Present Society and my photo of 2012.
The Poor Girls School has seen many changes.
One of the most famous teachers associated with the school was Norah Robinson, who would become the world-famous author Norah Lofts.
The school is now a letting, commercial and estate agents, Hazell & Co, owned by George Hazell.
Over the years several changes have taken place at the Guildhall Feoffment School.
In 1974 the age range of children taught was from four -nine years old but this changed to four-11 years old in 2016.
Consequently, the numbers of children have increased, bringing with it a larger catchment area for this very popular school.
An association with the past however is not forgotten as every June the children attend the Jankyn Smyth memorial service held in St Mary’s Church.
