The  master's  salary  was  raised  to  £2.  in
1479,  when  a  distinction  appears  between  the
"  grammar  boys  "  and  the  "  singing  boys  "  who
were  now  provided  with  a  separate  singing
master.  So  the  school  continued  to  the  disso-
lution of  the  abbey  in  1539,  the  normal  num-
ber of  boys  appearing  to  be  24.  When  the
abbey  was  refounded  next  year  as  a  cathe-
dral, the  number  of  grammar  school  boys  to  be
maintained  out  of  the  foundation  was  raised  to
40,  and  this  number  of  resident  King's  schol-
ars is  still  kept  up.  At  Durham,  a  similar
Almonry  School  appears  first  in  1350,  when  a
payment  is  made  for  the  "Almonry  bishop,"
the  boy  bishop  (q.v.)  of  the  Almonry  boys.  A
master  of  the  boys  in  the  Almonry  is  first  men-
tioned in  1352,  and  in  1372  he  is  first  called
schoolmaster  of  the  Almonry  and  paid  £1.
14s.  3d.  for  his  salary  and  gown.  It  was  only
on  special  feasts  the  boys  had  anything  to  eat
but  the  broken  meats  from  the  monks'  table;


7s.  was  paid  for  fresh  meat  for  them  for  Advent,
1419.  They  were  set  to  menial  tasks.  In
1448,  1  pennyworth  of  bread  and  beer  was
given  them  for  tossing  hay,  and  in  1457  Is.  5d.
was  spent  in  beer  for  them  for  getting  stones.
