Behind the Guild Chapel at the end of Chapel Street you will find the Boys Grammar School - known locally as KES. This is allegedly the school where the Bard himself was educated as a young man. In those days the school was run by a the Guild of the Holy Cross - a Catholic Society which set out to improve the lives of local people and their families.

However, during the reign of Henry VIII the school underwent a dramatic change.

The Guild had employed Catholic teachers which meant it naturally became a target during Henry's reformation of the church.  The King violently persued this reformation throughout the country.   The local lord, Robert Dudley, was given the responsibility of wiping out the Catholic faith in Warwickshire along with all links to the established church.

Robert realised that Stratford was a catholic stronghold and if he went heavy handed into the town it might cause major problems which could force him to place the town under martial law.  This of course would mean that he would have to bring his troops home from battles abroad to garrison the town. 

Now Robert was a very careful man and also quite crafty so he set about removing Catholicism from Stratford in another way. He passed a local bylaw which made the teaching and speaking of Latin illegal.

This caused a major problem for the school as the students were only allowed to speak Latin whilst there - from when they arrived until the moment they left. Therefore in one blow Robert had rendered the school useless . Protestant teachers were brought in to carry on the children’s education in English and a strong Catholic grip of the town had been relinquished in one blow.

It is said that to this day, when walking past you can hear the chanting of latin verbs from the old school buildings - but perhaps this is just a modern class learning the ancient language... or is it?