Come back later for the final installment!
To celebrate the 160th anniversary of the School, Archives Assistant, Jemima Hegerty-Ward and Communications Manager, Bonnie Robinson, took a deep dive into the Archive to find some of their favourite items from over the School’s History. With thanks to Archivist Chris Nathan for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Archive and his endless patience!
Part 4: Items 16-20
Item 16: The key to the Cowell Gates used by the Princess Royal when she opened them in 1939.
The gates were designed by architect Harold Rogers, OSE.
Item 17: The neo-Gothic key to the Chapel tower
They key is still in use today!
Item 18: The original watercolour design for the Kenneth Grahame window in the Chapel.
The window was completed in 1936 by Christopher Webb, one of the finest stained glass designers of the 20th century. It is illustrated with a scene from Grahame’s childhood memoir, Dream Days … ‘the sky was a feckless blue, the flags danced in the breeze … I was through the town by this time and out on the other side of the hill, where I had always wanted to be; and sure enough, there was the harbour, all thick with curly ships …’. Grahame’s name is flanked by snake’s head fritillaries, the county flowers of Oxfordshire.
Item 19: The period work bell which hung outside the Work Block from 1925-1995.
The cipher of King George V can be seen cast into the bronze at the top of the bell.
Item 20: A picture taken from a newspaper cutting from the 1980s showing the first girls at the school.
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