Grammar School. The founding of the school was permitted by King James I and he gave instructions that the school should be called the King James Grammar School. In 1648, Sheffield Castle was demolished and some of the stone was used to build a new grammar school in Townhead Street, The Free Grammar School of King James of England, within the town of Sheffield, in the County of York. It remained in use until 1825, when a new school was built in St George's Square. Many other schools were built in Sheffield during this period and some were very highly regarded, having taught some of the leading citizens of the country. Another first for Sheffield occurred after the passing of the Education Act of 1870. The first school to be built in England under the Act was Newhall School at Attercliffe in 1873. In the same year, Broomhall School was opened, quickly followed by Netherthorpe and Philadelphia. In 1874 a plan was produced by the Sheffield architects, Innocent and Brown, for the laying out of Leopold Street and the realignment of Church Street and Bow Street (now West Street). In 1876 the area between Orchard Lane, West Street, Orchard Street and Balm Green was covered by a huddle of old houses in two streets now gone (Smith Street and Sands Paviours). This site was bought by the Sheffield School Board (SSB) for building the Central Schools and offices for themselves. At this time, Mark Firth (of steel fame) was interested in founding an Adult Education College which he intended should become a University College, so the Board sold him part of the site at the corner of West Street. The new building, called the Firth College after its benefactor, was opened by Prince Leopold (hence Leopold Street) in 1879. The following year the Central Schools were opened by Earl Spencer. They consisted of an infants' school, a junior school, a separate school for standards V and VI and a Higher School which was to give secondary education without actually saying so - as the Board did not then have full legal powers. Their aim was to provide candidates of university standard for Firth College. The Higher School is claimed to have been the first secondary school to be opened by a school board in England. At the various opening ceremonies, it was praised as an amazing and advanced school and