The original Friars School was established in the old friary buildings which had been purchased in 1553 by Geoffrey Glynne (following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII). In his will dated 8th July 1557 Geoffrey Glynne bequeathed the Friars’ House with most of his personal possessions for the purpose of founding a free grammar school in the town. Unfortunately there is no satisfactory description never mind a plan or picture of the first school, which occupied the site of the old friary until 1789, when a second school was built. There was a close connection between the friary and the first school in the form of a number of medieval gravestones which have subsequently accompanied the school to all of its successive sites.
Geoffrey Glynne died a rich man, he left £20 for the renovating and improving the building and the sum of £400 pounds to buy property to provide an income of £20 per year. This sum of £20 a year was to be used for the maintenance of ten scholars. They were to be educated by the master and his assistant, the usher. At the time the school started it was held in the old friary buildings and naturally became known as Friars otherwise in all probability the school would have been called ‘The Grammar School of Geoffrey Glynne’. Every day the master and usher had to be in school by 7 a.m. and to continue teaching until 11 a.m. In the afternoon they were to be in school by 1 p.m. and to remain there until 4.30 p.m. Before being admitted into the school the school rules or articles were read to the boy and his parents which included:
‘Ye shall submit your child to be ordered in all things after the direction of the master and usher. Ye shall find your child sufficient paper, ink, pens, books, candles for winter, and all other things at any time requisite and necessary for the maintenance of his study.’
The school was relocated to its second site in 1789 because of the ruinous condition of the original building. Perhaps the most infamous headmaster during Friars’ long history was William Church Totton who was appointed in 1838 and remained in post until his death in 1867, during this period the school experienced a long period of decline. The school closed in 1867 after Totton’s death and reopened in 1873 with a new headmaster Daniel Lloyd Williams who restored the school to its former glory and consequently the number of pupils increased rapidly.
In 1881 the school was temporarily relocated to Penmaenmawr due to a severe outbreak of typhoid . Consequently the decision was taken to build a new school in Upper Bangor at a healthier site away from the polluted River Adda. The school was built in 1899 and opened the following year possessing electric lights, workshops and delivering a ‘Classical, Mathematical & Scientific Curriculum’. The school could provide teaching accommodation for 120 pupils and boarding accommodation for 40 pupils.
In 1971 Friars became a co-educational school with girls admitted , this coincided with the establishment of a new school at Eithinog for the older pupils.
Friars remained a split site school until 1999 when a new single site school was built at Eithinog