Pennoyer's School

In 1401, the villagers rebuilt a chapel for the Guild of St James, which had previously been attached to the parish church, though we have no idea why the original needed to be removed. (St. James was patron saint of hatters; the village was famed for making hats, gloves and dornicks). When Edward VI dissolved the monasteries and guilds in 1547, the guild chapel became available for village use.

We believe that its use as a school dates from then. Certainly it was flourishing in 1670 when William Pennoyer, a wealthy London cloth merchant and part-owner of the Lordship of the Manor of Pulham, endowed the school. He also endowed Cambridge College, which became the University of Harvard where a Pennoyer Foundation, the oldest scholarship in the United States, still exists.

School pupils were transferred to the extended and remodelled school at Pulham Market, when Pennoyer's closed in 1988. Since then the buildings have stood empty and though in a reasonable state of repair are showing signs of deterioration. Part of the structure includes the medieval guild chapel with a particularly fine doorway with carved "Tudor" roses.

If you would like to know more about the history of the school, the 150 page book School's Out - A History of Pennoyer's School and its benefactor William Pennoyer (ISBN 0 9518809 1 8) by Hilary Clutten is a fascinating read. Copies are available by post for £7 (sterling only, please; cheques payable to the Pennoyers Buildings Preservation Trust) inclusive of post and packing, if you have difficulty getting it from your local library or bookshop.

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A charity the Pennoyer's Buildings Preservation Trust was formed recently in the village to preserve the building.

The historic and architectural significance of the building has been confirmed in a recent report by Stephen Heywood, medieval architectural historian with Norfolk County Council's Historic Buildings Unit.

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