Hinchingbrooke School is a large secondary school situated on the outskirts of

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, historically in

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

. Originally all of the surrounding land—including what is now Huntingdon Town—comprised the grounds of

Hinchingbrooke House Hinchingbrooke House is an English stately home in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, now part of Hinchingbrooke School. The house was built around an 11th-century Benedictine nunnery. After the Reformation it passed into the hands of the Cromwell fa ...

. There is still an avenue of trees leading from the start of Hinchingbrooke House towards the town, which was the old entranceway through the grounds. It is now an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

History

Hinchingbrooke School was founded as Huntingdon

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in 1565.Huntington Historic Town Walk
huntslesure.org, accessed December 2009School site
accessed December 2009 Among its pupils in its early history were

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

and Samuel Pepys. On 1 September 1939 it opened in a new building on Brampton Road. The girls from Highbury Hill High School in London were evacuated for safety and attended the premises from 1939 to 1943. In 1970 the school began to take pupils of all abilities and soon became fully comprehensive. At the same time the school changed its name and moved to new premises in Hinchingbrooke Park and the renovated

.About Hinchingbrooke House
, hhpac.org, accessed December 2009 In 2006 Hinchingbrooke School became a Specialist Sports College. It is now an academy. Hschool

Hinchingbrooke sixth form

The sixth form is located in the historic Hinchingbrooke House itself, with most classrooms and student areas within the Grade I listed building. Hinchingschool

Hinchingbrooke main school

The main school includes sports facilities, such as a swimming pool, the Fisherhall Dance Studio, a 3rd generation Artificial Grass Pitch and a fitness suite. Some of these are open to the public. A new sports hall has recently been constructed.

Notable former pupils

Nick Knight (photographer) Nicholas David Gordon Knight OBE (born 24 November 1958) is a British fashion photographer and founder and director of SHOWstudio.com. He is an honorary professor at University of the Arts London and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. by the same u ...

OBE *

Darren Bent Darren Ashley Bent (born 6 February 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Premier League and Championship for nine clubs, and at senior international level for the England national team. ...

(footballer) * Jamie Morrison (musician and producer)

Hinchingbrooke sixth form

* Carla Humphrey (footballer)

Huntingdon Grammar School

* Charles Fraser Beckingham, academic * Potto Brown, philanthropist * John Butcher, Conservative MP from 1979–97 for Coventry South West *

Patrick Collinson Patrick "Pat" Collinson, (10 August 1929 – 28 September 2011) was an English historian, known as a writer on the Elizabethan era, particularly Elizabethan Puritanism. He was emeritus Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge ...

CBE, historian *

, Lord Protector from 1653–58 *

Robert William Edis Colonel Sir Robert William Edis (13 June 1839 – 23 June 1927) was a British architect. Biography Edis was born in Huntingdon to Emma and Robert Edis. His sister was the preacher Isabella Reaney, his brother was Arthur Wellesley Edis, a gynae ...

, architect * Sir Michael Foster (physiologist) * Amaryllis Garnett, actress, daughter of author

David Garnett David Garnett (9 March 1892 – 17 February 1981) was an English writer and publisher. As a child, he had a cloak made of rabbit skin and thus received the nickname "Bunny", by which he was known to friends and intimates all his life. Early ...

of the Bloomsbury Group * Charles Goodchap, Australian politician * Liz Hodgkinson, author * Tom Margerison, Chief Executive from 1969–71 and Chairman from 1971–75 of

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

(LWT) *

Paul Northfield Paul Northfield is a prolific British record producer and sound engineer, who has worked on albums by bands such as Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, Rush, Porcupine Tree and Suicidal Tendencies. Northfield worked at Advision Studio, London from 197 ...

, record producer * Albert Peatfield, cricketer * Samuel Pepys, diarist (briefly in 1644) * Matthew Robinson, television and film director and producer *

Richard Rutt Cecil Richard Rutt CBE (27 August 192527 July 2011) was an English Roman Catholic priest and a former Anglican bishop. Rutt spent almost 20 years of his life serving as an Anglican missionary in South Korea, a country for which he developed ...

CBE,

Bishop of Leicester The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury. Through reorganisation within the Church of England, the Diocese of Leicester was refounded in 1927, and St Martin's Church ...

from 1979–90 * Mark Souster, sports correspondent, former Rugby Correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' * Charity Taylor, pioneering prison governor, married to Stephen Taylor, Baron Taylor

References

{{Authority control Academies in Cambridgeshire Educational institutions established in the 1560s 1565 establishments in England Secondary schools in Cambridgeshire Huntingdon