Our History
Henry VIII was happily married to Catherine of Aragon when Giggleswick chantry priest James Carr began work to found a school in the village.
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It took him five years from leasing land to completing the first school building in 1512. The next 41 years saw England at war, five subsequent queens with varying fates and the Reformation before Henry’s son granted a Royal Charter for what was then known as The Free Grammar School of King Edward VI. One of the young king’s chaplains was the Rev John Nowell, vicar of Giggleswick, and he was to become the first chair of governors. All lessons in the school day, which ran from 6.30am to 5pm, were in Latin, Greek and Hebrew – records tell us that the ‘English Tongue’ was forbidden.
Giggleswick’s early years featured close connections with the Church with the first boys expected to go on to take holy orders. Scholarships to Christ’s College, Cambridge, were made possible thanks to a bequest from an early headmaster and the connection continues to this day with a seat on Giggleswick’s governing body reserved for an appointee on behalf of the college.
Another early bequest allowed for a Potation Day, celebrated on St Gregory’s Day, when bread, figs and at one time, ale, were distributed to the poor scholars, which evolved into something quite secular. Over the years the day became more of a celebration and in 1825 it featured drinking, singing and cock-fighting – it was outlawed in 1862.
The school continued to grow from 35 pupils in 1603. Replacement buildings went up in 1790 and 1851-2. The school gradually acquired land and buildings elsewhere in the village and in 1869 it moved to the present campus. Here boarders were brought on site for the first time, having previously lodged privately around the area.
It wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that laymen became headmasters. The first not in holy orders was William W Vaughan, who was at the helm from 1904 to 1910. His cousin was the writer Virginia Woolf, who stayed in Giggleswick twice during his headship and may well have penned some of her early work while a guest there, perhaps inspired by the view out to the scars.
The last 150 years have seen great change and growth. Local MP and landowner Walter Morrison provided the funds and ideas for the school chapel to be built in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. Catteral Hall was acquired and opened in 1934 as a prep school. Today it is known as Giggleswick Prep School.
Giggleswick was the first independent school in the north of England to become co-educational, welcoming girls, initially in the sixth form in 1975 but soon throughout the whole school. In 2019, Mill House pre-school was established in its own building within the prep school campus, bringing Giggleswick’s offering to cater from age 2 up to 18.
Facilities have expanded as the school has grown. The swimming pool was opened in 1877 – one of the first heated pools in the country – and the sports hall was built in 2008 with a state of the art fitness centre added to the building in 2019. An indoor climbing wall, singletrack mountain bike track and up-to-date floodlit, all weather pitch are all facilities of which the school is proud.
A bequest from former pupil, broadcaster and journalist Richard Whiteley, enabled the development of an on-site, professional-standard theatre and performing arts hub, which opened in 2010. The Richard Whiteley Theatre boasts top class facilities and has a programme of shows and events open to the general public as well as being available for school use.
Giggleswick has enjoyed royal visits, links to high academia and the attentions of science as the site of the totality of a solar eclipse in 1927. It has educated war heroes, philanthropists, leaders of industry and Hollywood actors.