Its establishment was "to provide, at a moderate cost, for the sons of Clergymen and others, a classical, mathematical and general education of the highest class, and to do all things necessary, incidental, or conducive to the attainment of the above objects.

"[1] Along with Cheltenham, Lancing and Marlborough, Rossall was part of a flurry of expansion in public school education during the early Victorian period.

[2] The idea of founding a boarding school on the Fylde coast originates with a Corsican man named Zenon Vantini.

[3] The early Victorian period was marked by high child mortality rates, and Vantini expected that in the long term, the schools could be funded by a form of tontine insurance scheme, whereby the cost to educate children who reached their teenage years was offset by those who had died in infancy.

[3] Vantini called a meeting at the North Euston Hotel to discuss the foundation of the schools with local businessmen and clergy.

Beechey got the financial support of Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, The Earl of Derby as patron, the Duke of Devonshire as vice-president and John Bird Sumner, then Bishop of Chester and later Archbishop of Canterbury, as visitor.

The foundation stone to the school chapel, now the Sumner Library, was laid in 1848 by the first ever Bishop of Manchester, James Prince Lee – the diocese having only been created that same year.

[5] The current chapel was constructed in the 1860s and the school underwent further development from the 1880s to 1900 to accommodate more students and to create further facilities such as the gym which still stands.

Rossall has a memorial plaque at St Georges Chapel by the Menin Gate in honour of its fallen, alongside schools such as Rugby, Eton and Harrow.

Rossall has since had more investment than previously, with the boarding houses including Maltese Cross having undergone varying degrees of refurbishment.

On 23 March 2022, a plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the school's field as a shortage of fuel meant the pilot was unable to complete the flight.

It is clearly modelled on the entrance gates of the Oxbridge colleges and originally had large wooden doors which were locked at night; these have since been removed for improvements in access.

The new chapel was designed by Edward Graham Paley,[19] extended by Robert Lorimer and includes carvings by Eric Gill.

[21] The design was not without fault however – it was constructed from bricks encased in a weatherable coating that would dissolve away to leave it looking in the same condition as the rest of the square[clarification needed].

The largest section of wood panelling behind the headmaster's table in the dining hall is made from an oak tree that grew in the back garden of George Mallory.

[25] During the summer of 2020 the Dining Hall was undergoing major renovations, for the first time after Queen Elizabeth II visited the school in 1994.

[37] The CCF at Rossall received the Queens colours on Tuesday 29 June 2010, to celebrate its 150th anniversary and to acknowledge its status as the oldest cadet corps in the UK.

These schools are (in order of victories): Charterhouse (16), Harrow (11), Eton (10), Tonbridge (6), Rugby (5), Watson's (4), Rossall (3), Shrewsbury (3), Merchiston (3).

[46] The project has been funded by the Lawrence House Trust and predominantly run by Nick Lister, originally the head of design and technology at the school and now Astronomer in Residence.

Lister is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and was appointed as vice-president of the Association for Astronomy Education, where he succeeded Dr Robert Massey, who became president of the organisation.

After getting clearance from the original owners of the telescope to go ahead with the project, Rossall was given funds from the Lawrence House Trust, an educational charity, to go forward with their plans.

The centre had an official opening on 26 September 2006 with Old Rossallian and former Astronomer Royal Sir Francis Graham Smith in attendance.