Aut viam inveniam aut faciam - Find a way or make a way!

In 1979 builders "found a way", a tunnel, from the oldest part of Chigwell School towards the Kings Head Inn nearby! In the tunnel were several trunks of archive material; deeds, books of Governors' minutes and letters. Sorting and cataloguing these began the Archive Collection.

The School dates from 1619 when the Archbishop of York, Samuel Harsnett, bought a "demesne and pightle of land" from a John Wroth for the sum of £16.10s.

The first Headmaster, Peter Mease, a Dutchman, was installed in 1623 and the Foundation of School was sealed in 1629.

Since then thousands more archives have been collected from medieval deeds, quilled letters and bones, to medals valiantly won, cartoons, news cuttings and photographs. We now have a rich social history of the school and its surroundings and can follow its development from a single large classroom "Big School" for a few, maybe 20, classics students, who in 1658 included William Penn; through its expansion to incorporate an "English School" for village boys into the thriving co-educational public school it is today.

The School Archives are housed in Harsnett’s House and the School Archivist, Mrs Marian F Delfgou, ALA, will be delighted to receive visitors on Tuesdays during term-time. If you wish to visit the Archives please call telephone number 020 8501 5700 to make an appointment.