Until now, the redundant Pennoyer’s School looked like hundreds of other village school buildings around the country, but it was no ordinary village school. Behind its Victorian frontage 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 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. For more information on Pennoyer's history, follow the links under School and its Heritage to the left.
After closure in 1988 the school remained unused, and fell into dereliction. In 2006, a project team of local volunteers began seeking funding for an ambitious project to restore and extend the building as a meeting place for the local and wider community, for educational, social, recreational and business purposes. Thanks mainly to a £934,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the £1.5m project to convert the school into a village centre is now almost completed. In July 2010, The Pennoyer Centre, as it will be known, will be returned to its six hundred-year role in the heart of the local community.
The Pennoyer 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 and its benefactor William Pennoyer, as well as that of Pulham Air Station and the famous ‘Pulham Pigs’ airships which flew from there.
On Sunday 15 August 2010, The Pennoyer Centre will play host to Restoration Roadshow Revisited a reprise of the hugely popular open day that was staged exactly four years ago, when the derelict building was featured on the BBC series Restoration Village. Losing to the ultimate series winner was some compensation, and participation helped galvanise support to see the project to completion. Look out shortly for more details of this celebratory day.
For enquiries and bookings, call 01379 676660
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