| Byrchall High School | |
| Coordinates: | 53.4813°N -2.6409°W |
| Motto: | LIVE TO LEARN, LEARN TO LIVE!! |
| Type: | Academy |
| Head: | A.R. Birchall |
| Specialist: | Mathematics and English |
| Address: | Warrington Road |
| City: | Ashton-in-Makerfield |
| County: | Greater Manchester |
| Country: | England |
| Postcode: | WN4 9PQ |
| Local Authority: | Wigan |
| Ofsted: | yes |
| Dfeno: | 359/4501 |
| Urn: | 138699 |
| Enrolment: | 1131 |
| Gender: | Mixed |
| Lower Age: | 11 |
| Upper Age: | 16 |
| Free Label 1: | Former name |
| Free 1: | Ashton-in-Makerfield Grammar School |
| Website: | http://www.byrchall.wigan.sch.uk |
Byrchall High School is a secondary school and specialist mathematics and English school with academy status, in the Ashton-in-Makerfield area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester.
It has a mixed intake of both boys and girls aged 11 - 16. The current pupil population is approximately 1,200. The current headteacher is Alan Birchall. Byrchall High School is one of three secondary schools in Ashton, the other two being St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, next to Byrchall High School, and Cansfield High School.
The school is situated between the A49 and the M6 on the southern edge of the Wigan borough, neighbouring St Helens.
The school was founded in 1588 as Ashton Grammar School by Robert Byrchall on land donated by wealthy local land owner William Gerrard. The original building in Seneley Green is now Garswood Library. Through the school, Ashton-in-Makerfield Grammar School Old Boys F.C. (now known as Ashtonians AFC) entered the Lancashire Amateur Football League in 1951.
After the Second World War a prisoner-of-war camp for Germans, POW Camp 50, operated at its site. One of its inmates was footballer Bert Trautmann who was confined there until 1948.[1]
In 1960, Lancashire Education Committee proposed to amalgamate the school with Upholland Grammar School when the school had around 450 pupils. The school was administered by Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council from April 1974. By 1973 the school had 700 pupils and 800 by 1975.
It became a comprehensive school in 1978.
The school became an academy on 1 October 2012.