Hardenhuish School (formerly Chippenham Grammar School and Chippenham Girls' High School) is a large mixed secondary school and sixth form in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, for students aged 11 to 18. Together with Abbeyfield School and Sheldon School, it is one of three secondary schools in the town with academy status. The school's headteacher is Lisa Percy. The school is in the Hardenhuish area in the north-west of Chippenham. Its main building is Hardenhuish House, a large Grade II* listed late-18th-century house. Sheldon School lies to the south, in the southern part of the former grounds of the house. History Earliest records In 854AD, documents record the settlement known as Hardenhuish on the north-west side of Chippenham. The name probably derives from the family landholding of one Herejeard. In 1066, the Domesday survey establishes the owner as Arnulf who held it before this date. The medieval manor house and church were on the flat land which now forms Sheldon School's playing fields. 18th century In 1707, the Colborne family purchased the estate and selected a new site for a fine Georgian house, Hardenhuish House, on higher ground to the north, built in 1773 to 1774. Joseph Colborne of Hardenhuish was appointed Sheriff of Wiltshire for the year 1777. In 1779, Joseph Colborne decided that a new church should be erected on higher ground to the west of his new Georgian house. Dedicated to Saint Nicholas, it was designed by the famous Bath architect John Wood and is supposed to contain recycled material from the earlier church. The ruins of a raised stone summer house in Hardenhuish wood and the cobbled flooring of a stable are still visible, as well as a stone wall, formerly a garden store, on the hill behind the property. These features, alongside the neo-classical architecture of the house, act as an educational resource used by the school's history department. 19th century In 1822, the Clutterbuck family bought the Hardenhuish estate. Henrietta, a daughter of the economist and MP David Ricardo, married into the family in 1823, and he subsequently became well acquainted with the family. Many of his original works remained with the family for at least a century. In 1826, Thomas Clutterbuck of Hardenhuish was Sheriff of Wiltshire. The renowned diarist Francis Kilvert was born opposite the estate in 1840 in the rectory, and he subsequently befriended the Clutterbuck children who are referenced in his diaries