The School is finally operational and Thomas Hardye comes onto the scene

At last, in 1569, the business of construction was finished. The establishment was to be called the 'Dorchester Freeschole'. In the town there was a feeling of satisfaction.
According to one historian the original school, was merely ‘a large room in the Dwelling house’ until 1660 as ‘a school for Lower Boys’ when the new building was erected. Mind you, how much credence we can put on this is doubtful as the same historian reported that Edward Hardye of Wyke was responsible for building the school! (Was he getting confused with Edmund who was Thomas Hardye's elder brother and doesn’t appear to have had much to do with his mother and Thomas since the advent of John Browne of Frampton, more of whom you will learn later. Nowhere else is there any mention of Edward or Edmund in relation to the Dorchester school. Even Thomas doesn't seem to have been involved for another ten years.)
But now we can begin the story of the school itself.
There is no record as to who taught in the school when it first opened in 1569. It could very well have been the incumbent of St. Peter’s as it was in the gift of that parish. We also have no idea as to how the school progressed. It would seem, however, that the burgesses discovered that running a school was an expensive business because in 1579, led by the Marquis of Winchester, they appealed to Thomas Hardye to make an endowment to the school. He acceded to their request and the Foundation Deed was drawn up on August 3rd, 1579.
A Master and an Usher were to teach children of the town. Ten Trustees including John Browne, a merchant of Melcome and owner of the Manor of Frampton, who was Hardye’s stepfather, and also John Browne, the son, Hardye’s stepbrother who also seems to have been a close friend and companion. All Hardye’s property in Wyke Regis, Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (to be retained by Hardye for his own benefit but would revert to the school after his death). There were also in Dorchester two houses in East Street, plus half an acre in West Walks, a house and garden in the parish of All Saints, a house in South Street in the parish of St. Peter’s, three other houses in the parish of St. Peter and the rent of eight shillings per annum and one pound of pepper from West Shilvinghampton. After his death the Trustees would have the right to lease his property for the benefit of the school. The school and the adjoining house in South Street was to be held in trust for 3,000 years.
According to one set of records written circa 1625,
"The old school, bordering on the East side of South Street, together with the garden behind the same, was for sixty years past belonging to the town and built by the townsmen: but about the 21st Elizabeth the townsmen bestowed it upon Mr. Hardye upon condition that he would endow it with lands and annuities, which the said Mr. Hardye did, and was afterwards advised to buy the lease of Frome Whitfield, or the parsonage thereof, which thing he accomplished and took it for 99 years."
It was agreed that during his lifetime Hardye would be the sole Governor responsible for the appointment of the schoolmaster. After his death this was to be the responsibility of the trustees, followed in the course of time by their heirs. Hardye's first choice was Edward Doughty, who taught at the school from 1580 to 1585.

The story begins

There had been a school in the town since at least 1485. But during the Reformation the old Franciscan Friary School in Dorchester had been closed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries according to the instructions of Henry VIII when, in one week in 1539, all such establishments in Dorset were swept away by the King’s Commissioners. A royal grant provided for the continuance of a school in the town, although with its main source of income removed it probably would not have survived for long. The new school may have been founded, as were many others in the country, in the reign of Edward VI in fulfilment of his father, Henry VIII’s decree encouraging the widespread teaching of grammar. The first teachers in the Dorchester school could have come from the Priory, but in view of the current religious upheaval and the leanings of Dorchester to more independent thinking it is just as likely to have started as a completely independent Protestant venture.
The idea of the Dorchester Grammar School, known first as Dorchester Freeschool, was probably conceived soon after the Friary School closed.
This was a period of great vitality and change. All over the country the increasingly wealthy and independent middle classes were aiming for the advantages and position which had hitherto only been province of the upper classes - their ‘betters’. Dorchester and its environs were very much to the fore of the ideas prevalent at that time. The merchants and skilled craftsmen were becoming an increasingly influential part of society. They were determined that their children should not be denied the education enjoyed by others.
Plans continued to be made by the leading lights of the town. Thus, when Elizabeth had been the monarch for nine years, although relations with France and Spain were not good and religious beliefs were in a state of turmoil so that there was plenty to occupy the mind, the important project of the moment in Dorchester was the construction of the new school.
According to the last count, Dorchester consisted of about 368 houses. There was the Pillory, the Bull-stake, and the Pinfold in North Street. The Blind house, where disorderly persons were shut up for the night to quieten them down, was in the Cornmarket. It was later to be replaced by the Obelisk, the Town Pump, but that was a long time in the future.
The recorded story begins in 1567 when the tradesmen of the town started to erect the new building on the chosen site in South Street. It was possibly on property which had belonged to the Fraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - one of the three Fraternities of St. Peter’s church which had suffered with the suppression of the Chantries. The records show that such land in South Street was obtained through letters patent by the burgesses in 1548.

The History of Hardye's School

Hardye's School had an important role in the development of Dorchester.
It was founded as Dorchester Free School in 1569 but was soon taken under the charitable wing of Thomas Hardye when the townspeople found it to expensive to run for themselves.
I wrote the book 'A Phoenix Rising' in 1992 as a tribute to the history of the school when it was closed and reopened as The Thomas Hardye School. To me it was a case of 'a rose by any other name'.
I named the book 'A Phoenix Rising' because in its long history there had been many times when it seemed on the verge of disaster but each time it recovered and rose from the ashes.
In the book you can find the answers to such questions as :-
Just who was Hardye?
What was the link between Hardye's and the New World?
When was there a feud over fees?
What was the link between the Free School, Pirates and Puritans?
Why was poet William Barnes' application for the position of Headmaster turned down?
Where did the cows come to play cricket?
What is the history of the Oak Screen?
If you'ld like to know more keep visiting here or go to the list of books from Percydale Press at www.BAwriter.co.uk or email me at theodora@percydale.com.
If you wanted to buy a copy of the book as a result of reading this blog you can get it for the special price of £10 post free in the UK.
I'd love to hear from any old Hardyeans. While I was writing the book so many wrote to tell me about their days at the school when it was in South Street in Dorchester. Their memories were a fascinating link with the past.