@abingdon_school @abingdonschool @abingdonschool linkedin.com/school/abingdonschool FSC logo The Abingdon Foundation, Park Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 1DE Edited by Julia Cooke - [email protected] 01235 521563 Out of the Past Abingdon Where was the old School? Archive site now live Why is the School’s emblem a griffen? You see them everywhere about the School, from the elegant stone carving of a griffen on the wall of Park Lodge to the buttons on the uniform blazers. Why a griffen? It is to honour John Roysse, the sixteenth-century benefactor of the School, whose coat of arms features a griffen on its shield. Why do the School spell it griffen with an e instead of an i? Because that is how it was spelt in the original 1563 grant of arms. In 1924 tuition fees were £10 a term and boarding £22 13 s 4d making the total annual fee for boarders £98. All this, and much more, can be gathered from the 1924-5 prospectus which outlines subjects taught, scholarships offered and facilities available along with fifteen images of the School at this time. If the School is more than 750 years old and has been at Albert Park for 155 of those years, where was it before that? Until it moved in 1870 it was in a number of different locations in Stert Street. Scan the QR code to see the photograph which shows from left to right, the site of a 1372 school boarding house and of the headmaster’s house next door, St Nicolas Church, where lessons are thought to have taken place in c1100, and the entrance to the new 1563 school. What was the School like 100 years ago? From the December 1924 Abingdonian we learn that there were 155 boys on the roll, 76 day boys and 79 boarders. Perhaps the most exciting news was that the School had acquired a wireless, one with three valves and a loud speaker! It’s not obvious how the wireless was powered because the School didn’t install electric lighting until the following year. To easily access historic issues of The Abingdonian and the prospectus, please scan the QR codes. The Abingdonian Prospectuses Archive site now live - what would you like to know?
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