• Welcome to the Prior Pursglove College Archive Website ... read more
  • Football photographs!... read more
  • New photo galleries: sports and more!... read more
  • The School Museum – An Exciting Discovery... read more
  • School's War Honours Board - Now Available... read more
  • The School Museum - now available... read more
  • More Sports Photos Added... read more
  • The Sports Pavilion... read more
  • Guisborian Magazines available... read more
  • VE Day Commemoration... read more
  • Guisborough Priory Celebrates 900 Years... read more

A montage of three photos; a red brich school building, a parchment charter with wax seal, and a view of a courtyard between buildings with trees with pink blossom.History

In 1561 Robert Pursglove, retired clergyman and the last Prior of Gisborough Priory, founded a free grammar school and almshouses in Guisborough called the Jesus Hospital (also called Guisborough Hospital). This organisation was tasked with provideding free tuition in Latin to the sons of local farmers and tradesmen, and accommodation, clothing, food and a small stipend to twelve destitute elderly residents of Cleveland.

The hospital lasted until the 1880s, when it was reconstituted into Guisborough Grammar School. The almshouses were closed, and a new school building was commissioned from Alfred Waterhouse, architect of the Natural History Museum in London.

Guisborough Grammar School thrived, growing exponentially from one generation to the next, until the 1970s saw another big change. In 1971, the grammar school became Prior Pursglove College, a co-educational sixth form college. Female students were admitted to the sixth form for the first time, and the last fifth form graduated in 1974.

 

Browse this section to learn more about the 450 year history of Prior Pursglove College and our 800 year old archive.

Click on the headers below to access each section.

You can also go to the Archives, Photo galleries and People sections (accessed by the black menu bar above) to view our photographs and documents, and learn more about the long history of education and philanthropy in Guisborough.

 

Medieval

 Browse this section for information about our medieval collections.

 

More coming soon!

 

Contribute to our website!

We are very keen for researchers to work on our collections, and to help us better understand the history of the college, grammar school and almshouses.

If you would like to contribute to this section, please email ppc.museum@pursglove.ac.uk with a summary of your research, or a proposal for research you would like to carry out.

Guisborough Hospital

Browse this section for articles about the Hospital of Jesus - the free grammar school and almshouses which operated from 1561 until the 1880s.

 

Guisborough Grammar School

In the 1880s, Robert Pursglove's free grammar school in Guisborough was reconstituted into Guisborough Grammar School. Find out about the school in this section.  

 

Prior Pursglove College

In 1971, Guisborough Grammar School became Prior Pursglove College. Browse this section to find out more about the college.

 

 

More coming soon!

If you would like to contribute your memories of the college, please email ppc.museum@pursglove.ac.uk

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