The Ancient Schools of Gloucester

David Evans read History at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, in the late 1970s, specialising in the medieval and early modern periods. He came to Gloucester in 1986 as Head of History at the King's School, where he inherited a cardboard box full of old photographs of the school in previous generations. From this, a passion for the history of the school grew to the point in 2006 when he was able to publish his first book, "The King's School Gloucester: A Photographic History". As well as becoming the Deputy Head at King's for two decades, David took on the enjoyable task of organising the school archives and museum. In retirement, he became a guide at Gloucester Cathedral and a trustee at Discover DeCrypt, which is based in the Church of St Mary de Crypt and the adjacent old Crypt Schoolroom. David has a wide knowledge of Gloucester's history; he has been involved in the annual Heritage Open Days for more than ten years and in 2021 he was a speaker at the City's History Festival, where he gave a presentation on the Schools of Tudor Gloucester.

Introduction A Thousand Years of History; Chapter One Gloucester's First School: Our Anglo-Saxon Inheritance; Chapter Two The Cloister School in St Peter's Abbey: The Growth of Scholarship during the 12th and 13th Centuries; Chapter Three Our Two Grammar Schools of St Oswald's and Llanthony: Education at the Heart of Medieval Gloucester; Chapter Four The Almonry and Song Schools of St Peter's Abbey: Serving the Medieval Benedictine Community; Chapter Five The Chantry Schools of Gloucester: Our First 'Free' Schools; Chapter Six The New Grammar School at the Crypt: Joan Cooke's Legacy to the People of Gloucester; Chapter Seven The Tudor Schools at Gloucester Cathedral: Building on the Monastic Tradition; Chapter Eight Elementary or Petty Schools: The Growth of Basic Literacy and Reading Skills; Chapter Nine The Early 17th Century: Schools Dominated by Religious Controversy; Chapter Ten Civil War and Commonwealth: The City's Schools under Siege; Chapter Eleven The Late 17th Century: Normality Restored; Chapter Twelve Sir Thomas Rich's Hospital: The Arrival of the Bluecoat Boys; Chapter Thirteen Maurice Wheeler: Gloucester's Most Celebrated Schoolmaster; Chapter Fourteen Private Schools and Academies: The Proliferation of New Types of School; Chapter Fifteen The Crypt in the 18th Century: A School Confronting its Financial Constraints; Chapter Sixteen The 18th Century at King's: A School of Fluctuating Fortunes; Chapter Seventeen Charity Schools and Sunday Schools: Moves towards Mass Schooling; Epilogue The Dawn of the Modern Age; Select Bibliography; Photographs and Figures; Index of People, Places and Topics; About the Author;