A Lake District school has celebrated its 400th anniversary.
Grasmere School was set up in 1625 by the Rector of Grasmere, who taught scholars originally in the rectory.
By the 1680s, a larger schoolroom was required, and benefactors contributed to the building of a dedicated schoolhouse in the churchyard.
The schoolhouse is now home to the world famous Grasmere Gingerbread Shop.
By the mid-1800s the building was too small for the number of scholars.
Mr Benson provided the money to buy a plot of land and build the original school building – the middle section of the present-day school site.
To celebrate the anniversary, an event was held at Grasmere Village Hall.
Guests included several generations of ex-pupils, ex-staff and governors, Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria Alexander Scott, HM, Isobel Booler, of Westmorland and Furness Council and friends of the school.
The school said: “We know a great deal about our school, from the 1600s onwards, and we have particularly enjoyed exploring the headteachers’ logbooks and registers. They are fascinating!
“We wanted to use these documents at the heart of our celebratory entertainment. So the evening began with story telling (led by renowned story teller, Dominic Kelly) based on the log book entries, with a twist…
“One of the log book entries describes how the children were invited to a magic lantern show, with the story of Aladdin. Grasmere School still has the actual magic lantern, and the hand painted glass slides, so the story wove together real-life log book entries and imaginative ‘magic lantern’ story telling.”
The audience also watched the premiere of Grasmere School – The First 400 Years, a film by Grasmere School with Gorgeous Media.
Janine Bebbington is the film maker who made A Grasmere Nativity, which went viral during Covid.
The event was catered by The Forest Side and chef Paul Leonard also helped judge a ginger cooking competition with Jess Manley from The Yan at Broadrayne.
