SCHOOLS 



now used as Big School, and the old armoury has 

 become the workshop, where carpentry and 

 carving are taught. The carriage house, the 

 only fragment of the older manor house left, is 

 used as a boat-house and bicycle shed, and the 

 saddle-room is now the school shop, where all the 

 special clothing required is to be obtained. The 

 buildings extend round four courtyards. Hand- 

 some rooms open on to the south-west and 

 south-east terraces. One of these, a most 

 attractive room, is the library, 44ft. by 23ft. 

 Another, 46 ft. by 21 ft., is the Rubens House 

 Study. Over the library is the Pitt suite of 

 rooms, where four Prime Ministers have slept 

 Mr. Pitt in 1803, Mr. Disraeli in 1848, Mr. 

 Gladstone in 1876, and the Earl of Rosebery in 

 1884. 



The head mistress is Miss J. F. Dove, M.A. 

 of Girton College, Cambridge, who passed in 

 the Natural Science Tripos in 1874, and came 

 from the head-mistress-ship of St. Leonard's 

 School, the great girls' school at St. Andrews, 

 which she resigned in order to found a similar 

 school in England. In eight weeks' time the 

 place was converted from a nobleman's residence 

 into a school, and on 27 September 1 896 it opened 

 with forty girls and a large resident staff of 

 mistresses. Structural alterations under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. W. D. CarOe, F.S.A., architect to 

 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, were begun in 

 the Christmas holidays. To enlarge the dining 

 room, the writing room next to the old chapel, 

 an unconsecrated building, was thrown into it, 

 the two together making a capital and well- 

 ventilated room, 48 ft. by 25 ft. Bath rooms 

 had to be constructed out of some of the bed- 

 rooms. From December 1896 to December 

 1 900 workmen were constantly on the premises. 

 A wing containing six school rooms, including 

 a very good studio, was completed by January 

 1898 ; the lower part of this wing had formerly 

 been a kitchen, brew-house, and mangle-room. 

 Part of the stables were altered into music 

 rooms. By June 1898 the gymnasium, also 

 constructed out of a part of the stables, was 

 built and fitted with Swedish apparatus. During 

 the work the men had found and opened out 

 in the dormitory a beautiful old rose window, 

 which had been completely bricked up. Ac- 

 commodation was provided for 100 boarders. 

 A picturesque feature is the Dyke, which in 

 1898 was partially drained and then cleaned out 

 down to the natural gravel bottom and refilled. 

 To drain it completely was found impossible, as 

 the bottom of it is full of natural springs. 



By September 1898 the first of the outside 

 houses, Barry, so called after Sir John Wolfe 

 Barry, one of the vice-presidents of the council, 

 was ready for occupation. The foundation stone 

 had been laid by Miss Dove on 24 March. On 

 15 December the foundation stone of Butler 

 House was laid by Mrs. H. M. Butler, and on 



28 February 1 899 the Lady Airlie laid the founda- 

 tion stone of Airlie House. Campbell House was 

 occupied on 3 May, though its foundation stone 

 was not laid until 16 May, for it had to wait for 

 its eponymous heroes Lewis Campbell, formerly 

 Professor of Greek at St. Andrews University, 

 and his wife to return to England from a winter 

 in Italy. 



In 1 900 the Clock Tower was built. A very 

 complete sanatorium, with wards in which four 

 kinds of disease can safely be nursed at one time, 

 and which includes a house for the resident 

 medical officer and the nurse, was ready for use 

 by January 1901. 



In September 1901 a junior school was started 

 in Loakes House. By May 1902 it was removed 

 to Godstowe on the Amersham Hill, about a 

 mile from the abbey. 



Dyke Meadow is used chiefly for gardens for 

 the girls. The whole area of the school ground 

 is 36 acres, which gives ample space for cricket, 

 lacrosse, hockey, golf, tennis, archery, gardening, 

 boating, and other recreations. 



By September 1899, just three years from the 

 opening, the limit of numbers, 200, was reached, 

 and a record established in the matter of school 

 growth. The fees are from 105 to 120 

 a year. The head mistress presides over the 

 Abbey House, with four house tutors under 

 her, and there are four other house mistresses. 

 Including visiting mistresses for dancing, music, 

 fencing, and bookbinding, there are thirty- 

 three assistant mistresses. The school has at- 

 tained first classes at the universities in such 

 diverse subjects as Medieval and Modern Langu- 

 ages, Tripos Cambridge, Theology, and Modern 

 History at Oxford. 



THE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOR 

 GIRLS, HIGH WYCOMBE 



The Education Committee of the Bucks 

 County Council established this school in Sep- 

 tember 1901. It was at first carried on in the 

 Science and Art School, but its numbers rose so 

 rapidly that other premises had to be obtained. An 

 iron building was put up on the ground adjoining, 

 and some classes were held in another house. In 

 1905 a new site was acquired on the hill behind 

 Priory Road, and one and a half acres were 

 bought from Earl Carrington for 450. Here 

 the present buildings were erected from the plans 

 of Mr. Arthur T. Greenwood, of Manchester, 

 at a cost of 5,005, including the price of the 

 site. Of this the County Council contributed 

 3,000, and the Town Council found the 

 rest. 



There is an assembly room, 60 ft. by 23 ft., 

 seven class-rooms, a laboratory, and a gymnasium, 

 as well as mistresses' rooms and ample offices. 

 The new buildings were formally opened by Earl 



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