Rhubarb December 2025

From the Warden

Alastair Chirnside

N othing is as permanent as a temporary solution.That proverb has no better illustration than the garden shed which used to stand at the

entrance to the School from the Woodstock Road. It had a certain charm, and for many years the warmth of the welcome on the inside more than compensated for the lack of architectural merit on the outside. It has now gone, replaced by the new Gatehouse, and the experience of arriving at Teddies has been transformed. Designed by Nicky Hardy and TSH Architects, the team behind the Olivier Hall and the Christie Centre, the exterior of the Gatehouse takes its inspiration from Simeon’s dream of the Quad, echoing the Victorian architecture of the Warden’s House and Mac’s.The interior, however, has a voice of its own, powerfully modern and warmly welcoming. In that respect, the Gatehouse is an expression of St Edward’s itself, grounded firmly in a successful past and looking confidently to an even more successful future. The landscaping project around the Gatehouse has included new gates to complement those opened by the Princess Royal in 1939, turning the old entrance into the new Quad Gate. On the Field Side, the Avenue entrance has been closed to non-school traffic by the new Avenue Gate, and the new Martyrs Gate stands at the top of the new two-way road which leads past Upper One and the Martyrs Pavilion to the Sports Centre.The designs for those new gates on the Field Side repeat the pattern from the Gatehouse, architecturally and philosophically. The architectural connection is obvious in the gothic.The philosophy finds its clearest expression in the designs which make St Edward’s private for pupils but open to Oxford.The North Wall is the best example of that philosophy put into practice: a public theatre for Oxford, a school theatre for our pupils. It is, therefore, not an accident that the gates are intended to be open most of the time; we want our pupils to be focused on their lives at Teddies but always to be looking to the world outside.

FROM THE WARDEN

The new Cowell Memorial Gates, opened by the Princess Royal in 1939.

The Cowell Memorial Gates in 1954.

The experience of arriving at Teddies has been transformed.

The new Gatehouse.