Wycombe Abbey
Encyclopedia
Wycombe Abbey is an independent girls' boarding school situated in High Wycombe
, Buckinghamshire
, England
. It is academically one of the top schools in the United Kingdom, and the top girls' boarding school (in terms of academic results). The school was founded in 1896 by Frances Dove
(later knighted and known as Dame Frances Dove
), who was previously headmistress of St Leonards School
in Scotland. Its present capacity is approximately 540 girls aged 11 to 18. The school is situated in 160 acres (650,000 m²) of ground in central High Wycombe. The land includes woods, gardens and a lake, and rises up to 500 feet (150 m) above sea level in the Chiltern Hills
. The valuable land is owned freehold by the school.
In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading private schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times
, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.
The Good Schools Guide described the school as "Well-known, well respected, traditional girls' boarding school which suits self-starters and undoubtedly does well by them."
As at most public schools, the pupils are divided into houses
. The houses at Wycombe Abbey are: Airlie, Barry, Butler, Campbell, Cloister, Pitt, Rubens, Shelburne and Wendover. Girls in Upper Sixth live in Clarence House, while the junior-most girls, the Upper Thirds, live in the Junior House. Every house at Wycombe Abbey is linked to a colour and, as part of the school uniform, girls wear ties which correspond to their house colour i.e. pale blue - Barry, green - Cloister, brown - Airlie, pink - Rubens, yellow - Pitt, orange - Butler, purple - Campbell, dark blue - Shelburne, red - Wendover. Each girl also has her own "house mother", a girl in the year above in the same house who looks after her, particularly when new to the school. Each house has a housemistress and a matron. The current headmistress is Mrs Cynthia Hall who was previously headmistress of St Helen's and St Katherine's School, Abingdon, Berkshire.
, (Ironically the priory at Godstowe, 600 years later, was too refounded as a school by Dame Frances Dove, and today is a 'feeder' preparatory school
for Wycombe Abbey).
On the site of the present Wycombe Abbey was a large manor house
known as 'Loakes House' which until 1700 was the seat of the Archdale family, when Thomas Archdale sold it to Henry Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne
. The first Earl of Shelburne in turn bequeathed the estate to his grand nephew William Petty
(who inherited a different Earldom of Shelburne† in 1761, and became Prime Minister
in 1782). The Shelburnes, however, had a far larger and grander residence at Bowood House
in the Savernake Forest
. They spent little time at Loakes House.
Consequently, Lord Shelburne sold his estates in the area. Loakes House was purchased from them at auction by Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington
in 1798. He then employed the architect James Wyatt
to transform Loakes House into the present Wycombe Abbey as we see it today.
†Henry Petty was created Earl of Shelburne in 1719, but when he died without heirs in 1751, the earldom became extinct. It was recreated for his kinsman, John Petty
in 1753; it was this latter earldom that William Petty inherited.
James Wyatt, captured the romantic spirit of his era, creating a gothic
ecclesiastical style. While building Wycombe, he was also engaged in the building of the greatest gothic extravaganza of the age Fonthill Abbey
, a mansion that was a complete replica of a medieval cathedral complete with soaring tower; it was supposed to resemble the fictitious Castle of Otranto. Fonthill is now demolished which leaves Wycombe Abbey as one of the most important examples of this type of architecture remaining.
While a far less ambitious project than Fonthill, Wycombe Abbey is a jewel of the romantic gothic style. The castellated 3 floored central block has turrets on each corner, and is 7 bays wide, with sash windows. On the ground floor they are ogee topped in the ecclesiastical manner. There is a slightly incongruous bay oriel
window in the centre of the 2nd floor. Attached, by a 2 floored wing: is a chapel
-like block clearly indicating the architect's intention to emulate an abbey; this wing is completed by statues in niches on the external wall in the medieval catholic
manner.
The whole composition is an echo of the house's larger sister at Fonthill. Like Fonthill Abbey, the whole structure was intended to imitate one of the older country houses genuinely converted from an old abbey or monastery. The final stage of the transformation was the renaming of Loakes House to Wycombe Abbey. This suited the mood of the era admirably.
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is academically one of the top schools in the United Kingdom, and the top girls' boarding school (in terms of academic results). The school was founded in 1896 by Frances Dove
Frances Dove
Dame Jane Frances Dove, DBE, JP was an English women's campaigner who founded Wycombe Abbey and other girls' schools....
(later knighted and known as Dame Frances Dove
Frances Dove
Dame Jane Frances Dove, DBE, JP was an English women's campaigner who founded Wycombe Abbey and other girls' schools....
), who was previously headmistress of St Leonards School
St Leonards School
St Leonards School, formerly St Leonards School for Girls, is an independent school, founded by the University of St Andrews in the nineteenth century....
in Scotland. Its present capacity is approximately 540 girls aged 11 to 18. The school is situated in 160 acres (650,000 m²) of ground in central High Wycombe. The land includes woods, gardens and a lake, and rises up to 500 feet (150 m) above sea level in the Chiltern Hills
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.-Location:...
. The valuable land is owned freehold by the school.
In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading private schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.
The Good Schools Guide described the school as "Well-known, well respected, traditional girls' boarding school which suits self-starters and undoubtedly does well by them."
As at most public schools, the pupils are divided into houses
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
. The houses at Wycombe Abbey are: Airlie, Barry, Butler, Campbell, Cloister, Pitt, Rubens, Shelburne and Wendover. Girls in Upper Sixth live in Clarence House, while the junior-most girls, the Upper Thirds, live in the Junior House. Every house at Wycombe Abbey is linked to a colour and, as part of the school uniform, girls wear ties which correspond to their house colour i.e. pale blue - Barry, green - Cloister, brown - Airlie, pink - Rubens, yellow - Pitt, orange - Butler, purple - Campbell, dark blue - Shelburne, red - Wendover. Each girl also has her own "house mother", a girl in the year above in the same house who looks after her, particularly when new to the school. Each house has a housemistress and a matron. The current headmistress is Mrs Cynthia Hall who was previously headmistress of St Helen's and St Katherine's School, Abingdon, Berkshire.
Early history of Wycombe Abbey
The history of the school building itself predates Dame Frances Dove's acquisition of it. In the thirteenth century the area, with the parish church, was part of the holding of the Abbess of GodstowGodstow
Godstow is a hamlet on the River Thames about northwest of the centre of Oxford. The ruins of Godstow Abbey, or Godstow Nunnery, are here.-The Abbey:...
, (Ironically the priory at Godstowe, 600 years later, was too refounded as a school by Dame Frances Dove, and today is a 'feeder' preparatory school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
for Wycombe Abbey).
On the site of the present Wycombe Abbey was a large manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
known as 'Loakes House' which until 1700 was the seat of the Archdale family, when Thomas Archdale sold it to Henry Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne
Henry Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne
Henry Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne PC was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician.-Background:Petty was a younger son of Sir William Petty and Elizabeth, Baroness Shelburne, daughter of Sir Hardress Waller...
. The first Earl of Shelburne in turn bequeathed the estate to his grand nephew William Petty
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
William Petty-FitzMaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, PC , known as The Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Irish-born British Whig statesman who was the first Home Secretary in 1782 and then Prime Minister 1782–1783 during the final...
(who inherited a different Earldom of Shelburne† in 1761, and became Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
in 1782). The Shelburnes, however, had a far larger and grander residence at Bowood House
Bowood House
Bowood is a grade I listed Georgian country house with interiors by Robert Adam and a garden designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. It is adjacent to the village of Derry Hill, halfway between Calne and Chippenham in Wiltshire, England...
in the Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest is on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately .It is privately owned by the Trustees of Savernake Estate, the Earl of Cardigan, and his family solicitor. Since 1939 the running of the forest has been...
. They spent little time at Loakes House.
Consequently, Lord Shelburne sold his estates in the area. Loakes House was purchased from them at auction by Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington
Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington
Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington FRS was a British Member of Parliament and banker.Smith was the third son of Abel Smith and his wife Mary . His grandfather Abel Smith was the third son of Thomas Smith, the founder of Smith's Bank of Nottingham. Smith was elected to the House of Commons for...
in 1798. He then employed the architect James Wyatt
James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
to transform Loakes House into the present Wycombe Abbey as we see it today.
†Henry Petty was created Earl of Shelburne in 1719, but when he died without heirs in 1751, the earldom became extinct. It was recreated for his kinsman, John Petty
John Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne
John Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne PC , known as John FitzMaurice until 1751 and as The Viscount FitzMaurice between 1751 and 1753, was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician...
in 1753; it was this latter earldom that William Petty inherited.
The 'new' Wycombe Abbey
As an architectArchitect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
James Wyatt, captured the romantic spirit of his era, creating a gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
ecclesiastical style. While building Wycombe, he was also engaged in the building of the greatest gothic extravaganza of the age Fonthill Abbey
Fonthill Abbey
Fonthill Abbey — also known as Beckford's Folly — was a large Gothic revival country house built around the turn of the 19th century at Fonthill Gifford in Wiltshire, England, at the direction of William Thomas Beckford and architect James Wyatt...
, a mansion that was a complete replica of a medieval cathedral complete with soaring tower; it was supposed to resemble the fictitious Castle of Otranto. Fonthill is now demolished which leaves Wycombe Abbey as one of the most important examples of this type of architecture remaining.
While a far less ambitious project than Fonthill, Wycombe Abbey is a jewel of the romantic gothic style. The castellated 3 floored central block has turrets on each corner, and is 7 bays wide, with sash windows. On the ground floor they are ogee topped in the ecclesiastical manner. There is a slightly incongruous bay oriel
Oriel
An oriel window is a type of bay window which projects from a wall.Oriel may also refer to:Places in the United Kingdom:*Oriel College, Oxford*Oriel Street, Oxford*Oriel Square, Oxford*Oriel Chambers, LiverpoolPlaces in Ireland:...
window in the centre of the 2nd floor. Attached, by a 2 floored wing: is a chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
-like block clearly indicating the architect's intention to emulate an abbey; this wing is completed by statues in niches on the external wall in the medieval catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
manner.
The whole composition is an echo of the house's larger sister at Fonthill. Like Fonthill Abbey, the whole structure was intended to imitate one of the older country houses genuinely converted from an old abbey or monastery. The final stage of the transformation was the renaming of Loakes House to Wycombe Abbey. This suited the mood of the era admirably.
Notable alumnae (Wycombe Abbey Seniors)
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Sources
- Elsie Bowerman. Stands there a School - Memories of Dame Frances Dove, D.B.E., Founder of Wycombe Abbey School (1965)
- Wycombe Abbey School 1896-1986: A partial history (1989; ISBN-0950383619)