Richard Clarke lived at the same time as Guy Fawkes.  In  1606  Richard Clarke, "a dyer and citizen of London", left in his will £300 so that the people of Abbots Bromley could buy land which could be leased out at a rent of £20 per annum and which would then enable them to build and maintain a free school within the village.

The present Schoolhouse, situated at the top of Schoolhouse Lane, became the first free school where  children could be "educated in grammar and good literature".  However, by 1860 Clarke's Grammar School was doomed, the buildings eventually handed over to the Charity Commissioners in 1875 and the school used for Elementary Education for boys.

The school changed many times over the years and in 1974 further re-organisation took place which meant that the school lost the top two years of primary and became the First School that exists today, still with the name Richard Clarke First School.