At first glance, the now redundant Pennoyer’s School looks like hundreds of other village school buildings around the country, but this is no ordinary village school. Behind its Victorian frontage there stands a medieval Guild Chapel, built in
1401. A free school was founded in the chapel in
1670 by William Pennoyer; it was extended in around
1870 but eventually closed in
1988.
Standing prominently in the centre of Pulham St. Mary in South Norfolk, Pennoyer’s has played a pivotal role in village life for more than six hundred years. Its fascinating history draws together not only three hundred years of school and village life, but also the Guilds of medieval England, Puritan merchant William Pennoyer, Christ’s Hospital School, Harvard University in the USA and much more besides.
Since its closure in 1988 the school has been unused. It is now derelict and in urgent need of repair. However, thanks mainly to a £934,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, plans are well underway to convert the school into a village centre. Continuing the six hundred-year tradition of the building it will be used as a meeting place for the local and wider community for educational, social, recreational and business purposes.
The Pennoyer’s Village Centre will also be open to the general public as a heritage site in its own right, and all visitors will be able to discover and enjoy the fascinating history of the building, as well as that of Pulham Air Station and the famous ‘Pulham Pigs’ airships which flew from there.
The project team has now secured the necessary funding to start the building work, which began on 2 February 2009. Provided the remaining funding can be secured for the furnishing and fit-out, it is intended that Pennoyer’s will be ready to open its doors to the public once more in Spring 2010, and another exciting chapter in the life of this amazing building will begin.
For updates on the building project, including photos, see the Project Progress reports under Village Centre Project.
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