Lady Hawkins' School

Her will, dated April 23, 1619, specified that she would use the money to "purchase lands or tenements of a yearly value of forty pounds for and towards the perpetual maintenance of a learned and choice preaching divine, the Master, to keep a free school in Kington, in the County of Hereford, and of a learned and discreet Usher under him, for the instructing and teaching of youths and children in literature and good education."
On Lady Day 1622, Captain Anthony Lewis, Lady Hawkins' servant and acting executor of the will, bought School Farm, Upper Hergest, to produce the required forty pounds annually for maintaining the school.
With 62 students, the school began operations on September 29, 1632, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.
No woman children or boys under the age of six shall be admitted unless they can read their Primer, according to the original ruling, which stated that "the freedom of the school shall be to boys born in the parishes of Kington, Huntington, and Brilley in the County of Hereford, and to boys born in the parish of Michaelchurch in the County of Radnor."
The school has a special library that has existed since its inception and to which additional volumes of significant historical interest and relevance have been added over time.
It is currently available for viewing in the Cathedral Library in Hereford and is on permanent loan.
The school is currently housed in contemporary structures built in 1962 and 1973, nearly all of which have undergone renovation in recent years to meet the demands of recent curriculum developments.
1995 marked a pivotal year for the school because it saw the start-up of the Joint School and Community complex.
An essential component of the school buildings is the Lady Hawkins Community Leisure Center, which has a management and staff of its own.
The school's facilities, which include a sports hall, fitness centre, dance studio, and an improved performance space for the arts, work in conjunction with the academic specialist rooms to provide total accommodations that are rather excellent for a school of this size.
SEN, an art studio, and a sixth form are all independent programmes at the institution.
Born in Plymouth in 1532, Sir John Hawkins was the son of a prosperous sea captain.
He sailed to Africa in 1562 and enslaved 300 people there before selling them as slaves.
In exchange for pearls, skins, ginger, sugar, and human cargo, he conveyed this human cargo to Santo Domingo in the West Indies.
John Hawkins had already breached Spanish law by selling his load of slaves in the Caribbean islands while being accompanied by his relative Sir Francis Drake.
Hawkins served Queen Elizabeth I at home for a period of 20 years. He expanded the fleet while serving as the navy's controller and treasurer in order to compete for maritime dominance.
In the great battle in which the Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588, Hawkins served as a Vice Admiral.
John Hawkins joined the expedition hoping to rescue his only son, Richard, who was held captive by the Spanish in Lima, Hawkins died at sea on Nov. 12, 1595, near Puerto Rico.