A ‘Heritage Website’ to collate, preserve and share the archive of the College of Richard Collyer
This website has been created to share some of the artefacts which reference the history of The College of Richard Collyer. Collyer’s is one of the oldest schools in England, pre dating Christ’s Hospital by twenty years.
Every year in May, Collyer’s holds a Founder’s Day, both to say farewell to students who will soon be taking their final examinations and leaving Collyer’s and to give thanks to the College’s founder Richard Collyer. Richard Collyer was a wealthy London Mercer who provided in his will of January 1532 for a free school in Horsham where he had been born. He also asked that those educated there should, at the departing of the school, say the De Profundis in remembrance of him, Kateryn his wife and all Christian souls.
In 1892, the College moved to Hurst Road from its original site next to St Mary’s Church and was a Grammar School until further educational reorganisation in 1976 created the Sixth Form College it is today. Additional building work over subsequent decades has enabled the College to expand to a student body of over 2000 in 2018 as well as offering adult education professional and recreational courses to 500 people in the community.
The Old Collyerian’s Association and Richard Collyer Lodge are still thriving in the town. Many artefacts, particularly books and photographs are housed or displayed at Collyer’s, others are housed at Mercers’ Hall in Ironmongers Lane, London and others are in private possession. The website hopes to gather and record as much of this as possible in order to preserve and share the memories and experiences of those who have studied, worked or been associated with The College of Richard over nearly five centuries. If you have something you would like to share, please contact the college by email admin@collyers.ac.uk or write c/o The College of Richard Collyer, Hurst Road, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 2EJ.
Dan Lodge
Principal