Hoots from the Archive - The Second School at Long Millgate

We have recently received a number of papers that once belonged to A.A. Mumford, who was employed as the first Medical Officer from 1909 - 1928. Mumford wrote the first modern history of the School which was published in 1915 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the School. Amongst his papers are numerous pages of notes and drafts for the history that didn't make the final edit. Included is this history of the second MGS building that was constructed in 1776:

"On the 26th January 1776 articles of agreement for rebuilding the school were signed by Sir Thomas Egerton of Heaton, Bart., Edward Greaves of Culcheth, esq., and Robert Radcliffe of Foxdenton, esq., on behalf of themselves and the other feoffees of the school, and by Thomas Townley of Manchester, bricklayer, Thomas Townley of Manchester, carpenter, and John Rothwell of Bolton, timber merchant. It was agreed to take down the old school, which is described as "not only incommodious in many respects, but insufficient to contain conveniently the great number of boys who resort thereto for education," and "to erect two commodious school rooms and other buildings for the greater convenience of the public." The work was to be completed before the 30th August in the same year, and the sum agreed to be paid for it was seven hundred and eighty-nine pounds, the contractors being at liberty to use any of the materials of the old school for the purpose of the new building. The new school was to be built upon the site of the then existing school, or "as near the same as conveniently may be," and according to the plans annexed to the agreement: the lower room, intended for the lower school, to be forty-two feet long, twenty-four feet four inches in thickness; the upper room, intended for the higher or upper school, to be ninety feet long, twenty-five feet wide, and twenty-seven feet high, the walls from the foundation to the ground floor being twenty-four inches thick, and from the ground floor to the roof eighteen inches. The ceiling of the lower school was to be eighteen inches from the floor of the upper school, and a plaister floor to be laid between the two "to stop the sound". The seats and desks were to be of strong oak, "and after the manner of the present desks." A brick wall was also to be built, seven feet high, "from the corner of Mr. Chetham's hospital to the river Irk;" "the fence wall at the bottom of the yard running parallel with the Irk" was to be made sufficiently strong to support the additional weight of earth which would be laid against it by raising and levelling the lower school yard; the school yards were to be levelled and the passage down the same flagged, and a strong fence wall built, according to the plan; and "a new brick wall, of the same height with the old one," was to be erected towards the street from the corner of the school to the hospital corner, with a good oak door.

                    Artist's impression of the 1776 building - note the owl plaque on the gable end, which now sits in the Refectory at Old Hall Lane

The original agreement...and the plans, accompanying the same, were torn and imperfect.

The old school was, doubtless, the building erected by bishop Hugh Oldham, "at his grete coste and chargies, joining to the college Manchester, in the weste ptie, and the water called Irke, of the north ptie, and the way goying from the said college into a street called Milne-gate, in the south ptie, and stone chymney of George Trafford, of the este ptie, for a free scole." At the upper end of this school was a statue of the founder, mentioned by Hollinworth as having been in his time newly repaired and adorned, which during the great rebellion was wantonly destroyed by those who hated bishops and murdered their king.

                                                                                               The rear of the second school building

I have never met with any description of the original building, but it seems not improbably that the present lower school was the room where the scholars had been taught for upwards of two centuries; for, although in the contract for rebuilding the school it is specific that two new rooms should be built, and the size of each is given, there is nothing to show that the old school may not have been of the same proportions and exactly within the same walls as the present lower school. In favour of this opinion it may be noticed that:-

1. The walls of the lower school and the buildings appertaining to it are of stone - which agrees with the description given in Mr. Chesshire's Song, "There stood an old building of stone" - and evidently of a date prior to the rest of the school.
2. Some portions which remain of the wainscoating are of paneled oak, whereas that of the upper school was of deal.
3. The five desks and the three fire-places, which were until recently in the lower school room, correspond with the original construction of the school, voz: Two classes for the master. Two classes for the usher. One A.B.C. class.