ON February 19, 1572, Elizabeth I issued a charter in favour of one John Lyon, a yeoman in the parish of Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex. By the terms of this splendidly presented document, authorised with the Great Seal of the Realm, Lyon was permitted to endow a school in his native town as a perpetual institution henceforth to be known—slightly cumbersomely—as the ‘Free Grammar School of John Lyon within the town of Harrow-on-the-Hill’. It could hold property up to the annual value of £100 and would be run by a schoolmaster and his deputy, an usher. In addition, Lyon was granted permission to sustain two students at both the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and also to improve the roads between Edgware and the nearby capital, London.
It is to this charter that Harrow School— the buildings of which now encircle the crown of the town’s distinctive hilltop site—ascribes its foundation almost exactly 450 years ago. That ascription is correct, but it overlooks an important complication. Christopher Tyerman in his authoritative A History of Harrow School (2000) points out that the royal charter describes the institution as being ‘re-endowed’; Lyon was not founding a school, but patronising one of unknown, earlier origin. This one certainly existed in the 1550s and attracted some well-connected pupils, including several Gerrards, members of a local gentry family. Indeed, Lyon himself might have been educated there. Whatever the case, his re-endowment of Harrow came at a watershed moment.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
