Wikipedia school entries around Combe Down

Prior Park College
Address
Ralph Allen Drive Bath , Somerset , BA2 5AH England
Coordinates	51°21′52″N 2°20′35″W / 51.3644°N 2.3431°W / 51.3644; -2.3431
Information
Type	Public school Independent school Day, full boarding & weekly boarding school
Motto	Latin: Deo Duce Deo Luce (God our Guide, God our Light)
Religious affiliation(s)	Catholic
Established	1830; 193 years ago (1830)
Founder	Congregation of Christian Brothers
Department for Education URN	109347 Tables
Chair	Mr A M H King
Headmaster	Ben Horan
Gender	Mixed
Age	11 to 18
Enrolment	624
Houses	Allen Arundell Burton Clifford English Fielding Roche St Mary's Baines Brownlow
Colour(s)	Navy and Cyan
Publication	Prior Knowledge
Alumni	Old Priorites
Website	www.priorparkcollege.com

Prior Park College is a mixed Catholic public school for both boarding and day pupils in Bath, south-west England. Its main building, Prior Park, stands on a hill overlooking the city and is a Grade I listed building.^[1] The adjoining 57-acre (23 ha) Prior Park Landscape Garden was donated by Prior Park to the National Trust.

The school's parent body is Prior Park Schools, which also runs the Paragon Junior School (Bath) and Prior Park School Gibraltar.^[2]

Overview

Founded in 1830 to be England's first Catholic university, Prior Park College was established by the Benedictine, Bishop Baines, as a seminary. To the present, it has remained a Catholic school, and provides co-educational schooling for students aged 11 to 18 in the Catholic tradition and ecumenical spirit.

In 2008, students achieved the best A-level results in the history of the school, with over one fifth of all students getting three A's and 77% receiving A and B grades.^[3]

In July 2009, Giles Mercer retired. He had been head teacher since 1996, and with his previous position as head of Stonyhurst College, he became the "longest serving Catholic senior school headmaster in England".^[4] His successor was James Murphy-O'Connor, nephew of former Prior Park pupil Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. Since 2019, Ben Horan has been the headmaster,^[5] after Murphy-O'Connor took up a new position at the Monmouth Schools.^[6]

The school is part of the Prior Park Foundation which includes the Paragon Junior School, also in Bath, and Prior Park School Gibraltar, in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.

Architecture

The Palladian hillside mansion housing Prior Park College was designed and built by John Wood, the Elder in 1742. He was commissioned by Ralph Allen: "To see all Bath, and for all Bath to see".^[7]

One wing of the mansion includes a chapel of our Lady of the Snows, built in 1863 by Scoles and Son, which is Grade I listed; there is also a chapel in the original house.^[8] The chapel is unfinished, with the pillars at the back remaining unsculpted as they were in 1863.

Landscape architecture

Prior Park Landscape Garden was laid out between 1734 and 1744, with the Allens benefiting during the first phase from the advice of their friend Alexander Pope. The Palladian bridge and the lake that it spans were added in 1755; the final phase with the green slopes from the house to the lake is thought to have been planned by Capability Brown in the 1760s.^[9][10] The garden is now owned by the National Trust.

History

In 1828, Bishop Baines purchased the mansion for £22,000 and used it as a seminary named the Sacred Heart College.^[11] Renovations were made according to designs by H. E. Goodridge in 1834. The seminary was closed in 1856 after a fire in 1836 caused extensive damage and subsequent renovation caused financial insolvency. The estate was later bought by Bishop Clifford who founded a Catholic grammar school.^[12]

The chapel was designed by J. J. Scoles in 1844 but not completed until 1863. It followed 18th-century French models such as Chalgrin's St. Philippe-du-Roule in Paris. Pevsner describes it as "without any doubt the most impressive Chapel interior of its date in the county".^[13]

The grammar school closed in 1904 and the estate was occupied by the army during the First World War and by a series of tenants until 1921; the Christian Brothers founded a boys' boarding school in 1924. Prior Park College continues to occupy the main house. In 1993, 11.3 hectares (28 acres) of the park and pleasure grounds were acquired by the National Trust and have been extensively restored.

The mansion has been victim of fire twice. The 1836 event left visible damage to some stonework.^[14] A 1991 fire gutted the interior, except for parts of the basement;^[15] rebuilding took four years and cost about £6 million. Unusually, the blaze started on the top floor, and spread downwards. The school operated in the stables and former servants' quarters during the renovation.^[16]

Facilities

Prior Park leases The Monument Field from the National Trust. The field is named after a triangular Gothic building with a round tower erected by Bishop Warburton, demolished in 1953;^[17] it had a circular staircase and contained a tablet inscribed in Latin in honour of Ralph Allen.^[18]

Since 2000, improvements include an indoor swimming pool,^[19] an Information and communications technology centre, and classroom extensions including the Mackintosh Dance Studio and Theatre (2006), the Design Centre (September 2016)^[20] and the Bury Sports Centre (April 2015).^[21] All sports facilities are located on site.

Former preparatory school

In 1946 the Congregation of Christian Brothers opened a preparatory school linked to Prior Park College, at Calcutt Street, Cricklade, Wiltshire. The school's main building was the late-19th century Manor House, with extensive grounds.^[22] At first a boarding school for boys, the school admitted day boys in the 1970s. After the Brothers left Bath and Cricklade in 1980, the school was sold and came under lay management but kept its name, Prior Park Preparatory School. Later, girls were admitted, and the school catered for ages 3 to 13, with boarding available from age 7.^[23][24] In January 2015 there were 205 pupils.^[25]

Since September 2017, the school is no longer a member of the Prior Park Schools Educational Trust, although it retains strong links with the college. Its name changed to Cricklade Manor Prep and it is one of the Wishford Schools group of preparatory schools.^[26]

Notable alumni

• Stephen Bowman, member of Brit Award winning band Blake^[27]
• Leonard Calderbank, Catholic priest
• Damian Cronin, Bath and Scotland rugby player^[28]
• Billy Drake, Battle of Britain fighter pilot
• Adam "Nolly" Getgood, guitarist^[29]
• Charles Kent (1823–1902), poet, biographer and journalist
• Peter Levi, University of Oxford educator^[30]
• Christopher Logue, poet^[31]
• Sir Ken Macdonald Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales, head of the Crown Prosecution Service^[31]
• Sir Cameron Mackintosh, British theatrical producer (formerly partnered with composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber)^[32]
• Gabriel Makhlouf, Governor, Central Bank of Ireland
• Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster^[33]
• Michael Please, BAFTA winning animator^[34]
• John Patrick Savage, Canadian politician
• Hugh Scully, broadcaster^[30]
• John Aloysius Ward, former archbishop of Cardiff^[35]

References

External links

Media related to Prior Park College at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Profile at the ISC website

Monkton Combe School
The Chapel, Monkton Combe School
Location
Monkton Combe, near Bath , Somerset , BA2 7HG England
Coordinates	51°21′25″N 2°19′37″W / 51.3569°N 2.3270°W / 51.3569; -2.3270
Information
Type	Public school Private boarding school
Motto	Latin: Verbum Tuum Veritas (Thy Word is Truth)
Established	1868; 155 years ago (1868)
Founder	The Revd Francis Pocock
Head Master	Christopher Wheeler (Senior School), Catherine Winchcombe (Prep School)
Gender	Coeducational
Age	2 to 18
Enrolment	711 (all three schools from September 2015)
Houses	Eddystone (MSS Boys) Farm (MSS Boys) Grange (MSS Girls) School (MSS Boys) Clarendon (MSS Girls) Nutfield (MSS Girls) Hatton (MPS Mixed): Easterfield (MPS Mixed) Kearns (MPS Mixed) Howard (MPS Mixed) Jameson (MPS Mixed)
Colour(s)	Red, white, blue
Former pupils	Old Monktonians
Website	http://www.monktoncombeschool.com

Monkton Combe School is a public school (fee-charging boarding and day school), located in the village of Monkton Combe near Bath in Somerset, England.

It is a member of the Rugby Group of independent boarding schools in the United Kingdom.^[1]

Monkton Combe School was founded in 1868 by the Revd. Francis Pocock, a former curate to the Bishop of Sierra Leone in the 1850s.^[2]

Historic buildings

Several of the school's buildings are listed, including the main Senior school block known as The Old Farm,^[3] and the part of the Terrace Block known as The Old Vicarage.^[4]

Head Masters/Principals

The following have been Head Masters or Principals of Monkton Combe School:^[5]

Sports awards

According to the school's website, it has produced six Olympic rowing medalists. Each represented Great Britain and three won gold medals. Students row as the Monkton Bluefriars Boat Club.

One Old Monktonian achieved an Olympic Gold Medal representing Great Britain at men's hockey. Another Old Monktonian captained the England Netball Team which won Gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.^[6]

Notable members of staff

• Revd. R.W. Ryde, 1866–1909, Classics Master
• A.S. Sellick, 1878–1958, Cricket Master
• G.F. Graham Brown, 1891–1942, History Master and former pupil
• F. Vallis, 1896–1957, Association Football and Cricket Master
• T.M. Watson, 1913–1994, French Master
• N.D. Botton, 1954–, History Master
• M. Wells, 1979–, Rowing Master

Notable alumni (Old Monktonians)

19th Century

• George Somes Layard, 1857–1925, barrister, journalist and man of letters
• Harry Martindale Speechly, 1866–1951, Canadian doctor
• Montague Waldegrave, 5th Baron Radstock, 1867–1953, peer
• Count Vladimir Alekseyevich Bobrinsky, 1868–1927, Tsarist politician from the Second to the Fourth Duma
• Count Paul Bobrinsky, 1869–1919, Peter's twin and Russian counter-revolutionary
• Count Peter Bobrinsky, 1869–1932, Paul's twin and Russian counter-revolutionary
• Harry Colt, 1869–1951, widely regarded as the father of golf course architecture
• Ernest Crosbie Trench 1869–1960, British civil engineer
• Sir Ernest Wills, 3rd Baronet 1869–1958, part-owner of W. D. & H. O. Wills and Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire
• Edwyn Bevan 1870–1943, British philosopher and Hellenistic historian
• Archibald Kennedy, 4th Marquess of Ailsa 1873–1943, British peer, barrister and soldier
• Horatio Powys-Keck, 1873–1952, first class cricketer
• Alfred Young 1873–1940, mathematician and inventor of the Young diagram and Young tableau^[7]
• Lieutenant Colonel Richard Annesley West 1878–1918, recipient of the Victoria Cross for sacrificing his life for his men
• Lieutenant Colonel Eric Marshall, 1879–1963, Antarctic explorer in Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition
• Frank Lugard Brayne 1882–1952, administrator in the Indian Civil Service
• Revd. William Thompson 1885–1975, Bishop of Iran
• Hugh Norton 1890–1969, Archdeacon of Sudbury
• Revd. Francis Graham Brown 1891–1942, Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and Bishop of Jerusalem
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse 1892–1970, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force and of RAF Bomber Command^[8]
• Dr. Sir Clement Chesterman 1894–1983, medical missionary at Yakusu in the Congo with the Baptist Missionary Society

Early 20th Century

• Michael Head, 1900–1976, composer, singer and musical educator
• Dr. W. E. Shewell-Cooper, 1900–1982, organic gardening pioneer
• Percival Spear, 1901–1982, historian and civil servant in India
• Revd. Kenneth Mathews, 1906–1992, Dean of St Albans
• R. C. Hutchinson, 1907–1976, novelist
• David Howard Adeney, 1911–1994, missionary in China and East Asia^[9]
• Jim Broomhall, 1911–1994, historian and medical missionary to China with the China Inland Mission
• Charles Sergel, 1911–1980, Olympic rower and medical missionary to Uganda
• Revd. Gonville ffrench-Beytagh, 1912–1991, Dean of Johannesburg and anti-apartheid activist.
• Major-General John Frost, 1912–1993, leader of airborne forces during the Battle of Arnhem
• Colin Butler, 1913–2016, entomologist who first isolated the pheromone
• Martyn Cundy, 1913–2005, reforming mathematical educator and academic
• Thorley Walters, 1913–1991, actor
• Thomas Watson, 1913–1994, first class cricketer
• Professor John Anderson Strong, 1915–2012, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
• Dr. Ran Laurie, 1915–1998, Olympic rowing champion and physician
• J. Desmond Clark, 1916–2002, influential archaeologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley^[10]
• The Right Revd. Maurice Wood, 1916–2007, Principal of Oak Hill Theological College and Bishop of Norwich
• Harold Jameson (1918–1940), first-class cricketer
• Lt Kevin Walton, 1918–2009, Antarctic explorer
• Squadron Leader James MacLachlan, 1919–1943, flying ace
• Revd. Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, 1920–1990, Bishop of Iran^{[dubious – discuss]}
• Revd. Graham Leonard, 1921–2010, Bishop of London
• Revd. David Brown, 1922–1982, Bishop of Guildford and missionary
• Prince Asrate Kassa, 1922–1974, Viceroy of Eritrea
• Pilot Officer Alfred Mellows, 1922–1997, Olympic rower
• Arthur Wallis, 1922–1988, itinerant Bible teacher and author
• Captain David Eyton-Jones, 1923–2012, SAS officer during Operation Tombola, businessman and chaplain
• Michael Lapage, 1923–2018, Olympic rower and missionary
• Colonel David Wood, 1923–2009, last surviving officer of the capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges
• Professor David Marshall Lang, 1924–1991, Professor of Caucasian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies
• Senator Andy Thompson, 1924–2016, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
• Major General Sir Philip Ward, 1924–2003, GOC London District and Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex
• Revd. Allan Rutter, 1928-, first class cricketer and vicar
• Christopher Buxton, 1929–2017, property developer and President of The Abbeyfield Society
• Right Revd. John Bone, 1930–2014, Bishop of Reading
• Count Michel Didisheim, 1930–2020, Private Secretary and Chief of the Royal Household to Albert, Prince of Liège
• Adrian Mitchell, 1932–2008, poet, novelist and playwright^[11]
• Barclay Palmer, 1932–2020, Olympic athlete
• Professor Gerald Blake, 1936-, Professor Emeritus of Geography at Durham University and former Principal of Collingwood College, Durham
• John Barnard Bush, 1937–, land-owner and former Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire
• Michael Mortimore, 1937–2017, geographer and a researcher of issues in the African drylands
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Stear, 1938–2020, Deputy Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Central Europe
• Revd. Stephen Sykes, 1939–2014, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge and Bishop of Ely
• Michael Barton Akehurst, 1940–1989, international lawyer
• Peter Webb, 1940-, Olympic rower
• Sir Tim Lankester, 1942–, former President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
• Professor Nick Jardine, 1943-, Emeritus Professor at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge
• Sir Richard Stilgoe, 1943–, songwriter, lyricist and musician
• Bernard Cornwell, 1944–, historical novelist
• Revd. Ian Cundy, 1945–2009, Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Peterborough^[12]
• Sir Richard Dearlove 1945-, Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1999 until 2004 and former Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge
• Ricky Panter, 1948-, Archdeacon of Liverpool
• Nigel Sinclair 1948-, Hollywood producer
• Sir Iain Torrance 1949–, Pro-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
• Sir David Haslam 1949- Former Chair of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and President of BMA and RCGP

Late 20th Century

• Professor Sir Robert Lechler, 1951–, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Professor of Immunology at King's College London
• John Reed, 1951-, former Archdeacon of Taunton
• Julian Colbeck, 1952-, musician and businessman
• Professor Mike Cowlishaw, 1953–, programmer and scientist
• Howard Milner, 1953–2011, tenor
• James Hawkins, 1954-, artist and film-maker
• Canon Nigel Biggar 1955-, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford
• Chris Anderson, 1957–, Journalist and publisher, Owner of TED and curator of TED Talks.
• Stephen Warren, 1957–, Professor of Astrophysics at Imperial College London
• John Kiddle, 1958-, Archdeacon of Wandsworth
• Sir Charles Farr, 1959–2019, Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation
• Lieutenant General Tim Evans, 1962-, former Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps
• Steve Williams, 1976–, Olympic rowing champion
• Rowley Douglas, 1977-, Olympic coxswain champion
• James Frith, 1977-, former Member of Parliament for Bury North
• Stefan Booth, 1979-, actor
• Seyi Rhodes, 1979–, television presenter and investigative journalist
• Alex Partridge, 1981–, Olympic rower and World Rowing champion
• Ama Agbeze, 1982–, former Captain of the England national netball team
• Josh Ovens, 1989-, farmer and former player for Bath Rugby
• Professor Phil Hockey, 1959–2013, South African ornithologist, director of the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town.^[13]

21st Century

• Ben Wells, 2000-, first class cricketer

References

External links

• Monkton Combe School website
• Bluefriars Boatclub website
• Senior School Good Schools Guide Report
• Monkton Combe village website

Ralph Allen School
Address
Claverton Down Road Bath , Somerset , BA2 7AD England
Coordinates	51°21′48″N 2°19′46″W / 51.3633°N 2.3295°W / 51.3633; -2.3295
Information
Type	Academy
Motto	Respect, Teamwork, Personal best
Established	1958
Local authority	Bath and North East Somerset
Specialists	Sportsmark (Gold) Artsmark (Silver)
Department for Education URN	138522 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Chair of Governors	Christopher David Mason
Headteacher	Nathan Jenkins
Gender	Coeducational
Age	11 to 18
Enrolment	1,200 pupils
Houses	Hippogriff Pegasus Dragon Phoenix
Colour(s)
Website	http://www.ralphallenschool.com/

Ralph Allen School in Combe Down, Bath, England, is a co-educational, comprehensive secondary school with academy status. Located on the south-eastern edge of Bath, the school educates 11 to 18-year-olds from Bath and the surrounding area.

History

The school was built and named in 1957 to commemorate Ralph Allen (1693-1764).^[1][2] It opened in 1958.

Awards

In 2004, the school gained specialist Science College status, and has also been recognised by Artsmark Silver, Investors in People, Investors in Student Careers, Schools for Health, Partnership Promotion School and Sportsmark Gold awards.^[3]

Partnerships

The school is part of the Bath Education Trust,^[4] working closely with other local schools, colleges, universities and businesses. It also works closely with the James Dyson Foundation,^[5] and is part of the Active Transport to Schools project.^[6]

Notable former pupils

• Becky Francis, educationalist and academic
• Fergus Feilden, architect and co-founder of Feilden Fowles^[7]
• Serena Guthrie, netball player^[8]
• Jeremy Guscott, rugby player^[9]
• Chris Lawrence (visual effects), CG Supervisor on 'Gravity'^[10]
• Jake Sinclair, football player^[11]
• Scott Sinclair, football player^[12]
• Danny Wallace, comic writer^[7]

References

External links

• Ralph Allen School Website
• Ofsted inspection reports for Ralph Allen School
• Ofsted inspection reports for Ralph Allen School (pre 2012 conversion to Academy)