The Thomas Hardye School

The Thomas Hardye School is a secondary academy school in Dorchester, Dorset, England. It is also part of the DASP group.

The school is named after Thomas Hardye of Melcombe Regis and later Frampton. Hardye was a property owner who endowed the Dorchester "free" school in 1579, ten years after its completion by the town. He was an ancestor of novelist Thomas Hardy and Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy His monument is on the south wall of St. Peter's Church. The Tudor grammar school offered free education to boys of the town and neighbourhood and flourished under the Puritan regime of Revd. John White. It survived the doldrums of the 18th century, though at times having very few scholars, and struggled through the first half of the 19th century. The Charity Commission eventually closed it whilst it was rebuilt, reopening in 1883. It was known as Dorchester Grammar School until approximately 1952, when the name Hardye's School was adopted as a reminder of the 16th century founder and links to the Hardye family.

More information

Comments Statistics

| | Public | Spanish