Monkton Combe School Explained

Monkton Combe School
Logo Alt:Arms of Monkton Combe School
Coordinates:51.3569°N -2.327°W
Motto:Latin: Verbum Tuum Veritas
(Thy Word is Truth)
Founder:The Revd Francis Pocock
Head Label:Head Master
Head:Christopher Wheeler (Senior School), Catherine Winchcombe (Prep School)
Enrolment:711 (Senior, Prep and Pre-Prep)
Lower Age:2
Upper Age:18
Country:England
Postcode:BA2 7HG
Free Label 1:Former pupils
Houses:6 Senior, 5 Prep
Colours:Navy Blue & White
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 major 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]

Buildings and Grounds

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]

The school has extensive grounds at both the Preparatory and Senior schools. The Senior cricket pitches (Longmead and Landham) with their thatched pavilion are described as among of the most picturesque in England,[5] regularly featuring in the Wisden Cricket Calendar’s ‘loveliest grounds’ lists.[6] [7]

The school maintains two boathouses, both on the River Avon. The older is situated on the edge of the Senior school grounds, sitting below the Dundas Aqueduct and is used mainly for junior rowing. In 2014 the school opened a new boathouse in the nearby village of Saltford, which benefits from a wider and straighter stretch of river, as well as more spacious land facilities.[8] Students row as part of the Monkton Combe School Boat Club, with the racing name Monkton Bluefriars.

Houses

At the Senior school there are three boys houses: Farm, Eddystone and School; and three girls houses: Grove Grange, Clarendon and Nutfield. Each house has both day and boarding pupils.

Clarendon house continues the traditions of Clarendon School for Girls, a former independent girls school which merged with Monkton in 1992, at which point the school became coeducational.[9]

The Preparatory school has four day pupil houses: Howard, Easterfield, Kearns and Jameson; in addition to Hatton house, a mixed boarding house.

Achievements & Artefacts

Olympic Medalists

The school’s has produced five Olympic rowing medalists. Each represented Great Britain and three won gold medals.[10]

In addition an OM achieved an Olympic Gold Medal representing Great Britain at men's hockey, while another captained the England Netball Team which won Gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.[11]

HMS Magpie

The school has ties to the Royal Navy ship HMS Magpie, a Black Swan-class sloop which was commanded by then Lieutenant-Commander, later Admiral of the Fleet the Duke of Edinburgh. The ties were established when the ship took the Junior school’s badge, a magpie (designed by the art mistress, Miss Bulmer), as its ship’s emblem.

The ship's bell was presented to the Junior School upon its decommissioning. The link is maintained with the current HMS Magpie, a survey ship, which continues to use the magpie emblem.[12]

Marshall Sledge

OM Lieutenant Colonel Eric Marshall, who served as surgeon during the 1907 British Antarctic Nimrod Expedition donated a sledge and flag used on the expedition to the school, where it remained on display for many years. Due to its deteriorating condition the school sold it at auction in 2018,[13] replacing it with a replica sculpture, ‘Discovery & Endeavour’.[14]

Head Masters

The following have served as Head Master and/or Principal of the school:[15]

Notable Masters

Notable alumni (Old Monktonians)

19th Century

Early 20th Century

Late 20th Century

21st Century

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Monkton Combe School. Monkton Combe School website. 14 November 2018.
  2. Book: Lace . A F . A Goodly Heritage . 1968 . 0950368806.
  3. Web site: Monkton Combe School, the main or old block known as The Old Farm. historicengland.org.uk. English Heritage. 4 July 2009.
  4. Web site: Monkton Combe School, the part of the Terrace Block known as The Old – Vicarage. historicengland.org.uk. English Heritage. 4 July 2009.
  5. Web site: England’s most picturesque cricket ground . BBC News . BBC.
  6. Web site: Monkton Cricket . Schools Cricket Online.
  7. Web site: Wisden Loveliest Grounds Competition . The Telegraph . Telegraph.
  8. Web site: New Boathouse at Saltford . Duchy of Cornwall.
  9. Web site: History of Clarendon and Monkton . Monkton Combe School.
  10. Web site: Monkton Olympians . British Rowing . British Rowing.
  11. Web site: Monkton Combe School . Sports .
  12. Web site: HMS Magpie . Comms Museum.
  13. Web site: Nimrod Sledge Sold at Auction . The Guardian.
  14. Web site: Discovery & Endeavour . Monkton.
  15. Web site: Monkton Combe School - History .
  16. Book: Crossley-Holland . Peter . Peter Crossley-Holland . 1954 . Vaughan Thomas, David . Blom . Eric . Eric Blom . Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Volume VIII: Sp–Vio . https://books.google.com/books?id=A0soAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA695 . London . Macmillan . 694–695 . 0333191749 . 9 February 2021 .
  17. http://www.monktoncombeschool.com/assets/files/om_club/downloads/Monkton%20Gazette%20November%2009.pdf, p.9.
  18. Web site: The Monkton Dec 1940 . Monkton Archives . Monkton Combe.
  19. Web site: Klemen . L . Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse . 1999–2000 . Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942.
  20. Web site: Charles Claxton . Who’s Who.
  21. News: David Ellis . Obituary: David Adeney . The Independent Features . 14 . 17 May 1994.
  22. Book: Biographical Memoirs. Secretary. Office of the Home. Sciences. National Academy of. 21 November 2003. National Academies Press. 9780309527699. en.
  23. News: Adrian Mitchell Shadow Poet Laureate dies aged 76 . London . The Times . Kaya . Burgess . 22 December 2008.
  24. News: The Right Reverend Ian Cundy . London . The Daily Telegraph . 11 May 2009.
  25. Ryan . Peter G. . 2013-07-01 . Phil Hockey (1956-2013) . Ibis . en . 155 . 3 . 698–700 . 10.1111/ibi.12058. free .