Free School, Bradford on Avon

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Founded under the terms of Thomas Horton's chantry in 1524. The chantry priest was obliged to keep a free school and pay a clerk for teaching the children to sing for divine service. After the dissolution of the chantry, by 1540, the school was maintained by the Crown by means of a grant taken from the revenues of Bradford manor. In 1559 the citizens of Salisbury persuaded Elizabeth I to transfer the endowment to Salisbury as they said the 'upland town' of Bradford had only a 'scanty population' and was a 'limited resort of merchants and gentlemen'.