Old Grammar School

Undercroft Hire is managed by The Market Harborough and The Bowdens Charity

Description, from Wikipedia Aug/2024:

There is an unusual former grammar school in the town centre which stands on wooden stilts. The school room was built upon posts to allow the butter market to be held on the ground floor. The school was founded in 1607 and built in 1614, through the generosity of Robert Smyth, a poor native of the town who became Comptroller of the Lord Mayor’s Court of the City of London and member of the Merchant Taylors’ Company.

The subjects taught were Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and many boys were sent to Oxford and Cambridge universities. Amongst them were John Moore, who became Bishop of Norwich in 1691, and Bishop of Ely in 1707 and William Henry Bragg, Nobel Prize winner.

The grammar school has since moved sites and is now the Robert Smyth Academy for 11- to 18-year-olds. The school’s coat of arms represents the City of London, a Tudor Rose and the grammar school. The school is divided into houses, known as Bragg, Logan, Moseley and Hammond.