Hardenhuish School (formerly The Chippenham School, Chippenham Grammar School and Chippenham Girls' High School) is a large mixed secondary school and sixth form in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, for students aged 11 to 18. Together with Abbeyfield School and Sheldon School, it is one of three secondary schools in the town with academy status. The school's headteacher is Lisa Percy.
The school is in the Hardenhuish area in the north-west of Chippenham. Its main building is Hardenhuish House, a large Grade II* listed late-18th-century house. Sheldon School lies to the south, in the southern part of the former grounds of the house.
History
Earliest records
In 854AD, documents record the settlement known as Hardenhuish on the north-west side of Chippenham. The name probably derives from the family landholding of one Herejeard.
In 1066, the Domesday survey establishes the owner as Arnulf who held it before this date. The medieval manor house and church were on the flat land which now forms playing fields shared between Hardenhuish and Sheldon schools.
18th century
On 10 April 1759, Joseph Colborne (a member of the tallow chandlers' guild and part of a prominent local medical family) purchased the house and estate from descendants of the Hawkins family, who had taken the manor house on from the Dunch family in 1622. Eventually he selected a new site for a fine Georgian house, Hardenhuish House, on higher ground to the north, built in 1773 to 1774. The previous house was demolished and the grounds were landscaped. Joseph Colborne of Hardenhuish was appointed Sheriff of Wiltshire for the year 1777.
In 1776, Joseph Colborne decided that a new church should be erected on higher ground to the west of his new Georgian house. Dedicated to Saint Nicholas, it was designed by the famous Bath architect John Wood and is supposed to contain recycled material from the earlier church. It was completed in 1779. Joseph Colborne's sister, Anne - who had married London merchant Abraham Craiesteyn - had been buried at the earlier church in 1764, and her remains were moved to the new church.
The ruins of a raised stone summer house in Hardenhuish wood and the cobbled flooring of a stable are still visible, as well as a stone wall, formerly a garden store, on the hill behind the property. These features, alongside the neo-classical architecture of the house, act as an educational resource used by the school's history department.
Joseph Colborne died in 1781. The ownership of Hardenhuish passed to his daughter Anne, who was married to John Hawkins of Kelston, near Bath. Their second son, George Hawkins, was next to inherit Hardenhuish.
19th century
In 1822, Thomas Clutterbuck, who had land and business interests in both Gloucestershire and Bradford on Avon, bought the Hardenhuish estate from George Hawkins.
Henrietta, a daughter of the economist and MP David Ricardo, married Thomas Clutterbuck in 1814 in London, and he subsequently became well acquainted with the family. Many of his original works remained with the family for at least a century. David Ricardo died in 1823, and was buried at Hardenhuish church.
In 1826, Thomas Clutterbuck of Hardenhuish was Sheriff of Wiltshire.
The renowned diarist Francis Kilvert was born opposite the estate in 1840 in the rectory, and he subsequently befriended the Clutterbuck children who are referenced in his diaries alongside the estate.
In 1854, Edmund Lewis Clutterbuck of Hardenhuish was Sheriff of Wiltshire. The Clutterbuck family and their heirs held the Hardenhuish estate until the 1930s.
From 1875 there was a private venture grammar school in Chippenham, conducted in St. Mary Street by a Mr. Wilson and from 1883 by Mr. Cruikshank.
In 1891 the Technical Instruction Acts (1889 & 1891) provided financial assistance for evening classes in various science and arts subjects. Earlier voluntary classes that had existed were now coordinated, and this became the beginning of a national system of technical education. Subjects included Shorthand, Animal Physiology, Chemistry, Physics, Hygiene, Carpentry and Dressmaking.
In 1893, Edward Newall Tuck was appointed by the Education Committee of the Borough of Chippenham to organise technical classes in Chippenham and district. Classes were held in rented premises at No. 21 London Road and at the Jubilee Institute, as well as villages including Grittleton and Yatton Keynell. Teachers from elementary schools attended classes in a School of Art on Saturdays at the Jubilee Institute. Tuck, in addition, gave talks on Wiltshire history and nature study, he also served as town councillor and was Mayor of Chippenham from 1931 to 1932.