Cirencester Grammar School

Cirencester Grammar School (CGS) was a grammar school in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England, founded in about 1461 and closed in 1966.

History

Princess Alexandra of Kent visited the school on 23 July 1958 as part of its quincentenary celebrations.^[1]

Closure

The school finally closed in July 1966, at the end of the summer term, as part of a reorganisation of county schools. In September 1966 its forms became part of the Cirencester School, combining with pupils from the Deer Park Secondary Modern School, and the new First Form entrants for 1966 went directly to the Deer Park site. Eventually the old Cirencester Grammar School forms all moved there, also.

The School's Victoria Road buildings still survive much as they were in 1966 and now house a junior school. It was originally in Lewis Lane, but is now in Victoria Road. It is also now a primary school. It closed as a junior school in July 2010

Notable former pupils

• Dr Vernon Ellis Cosslett, physicist and former President of the Association of University Teachers and the Royal Microscopical Society
• William Court, Professor of Economic History at the University of Birmingham from 1947-70 and President of the Economic History Society from 1969-70
• Wally Hammond, cricketer whose centenary was celebrated at a reunion in Cirencester in 2003.
• Edward Jenner, who invented inoculation to control infectious diseases.
• Prof Christopher Price, President of the Association for Clinical Biochemistry from 2003-6
• Prof Clement John Tranter CBE, mathematician

Notable staff

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was music master at the school from 1959 to 1962, and it was here that he started his life-long association with writing works for non-specialist children to perform. He wrote many works for the school's orchestra and choir, including O Magnum Mysterium. The school took part in the 1962 Bath Festival, with Yehudi Menuhin playing a composition by Sixth former Stephen Arnold.^[2]

References