The Building of St Edward's School: A Chronology (1870 - 2020)

P AGE N O : 62 No. 181 Banbury Road (Thorncliffe House), No. 45 Stratfield Road (£1,000 or £52,900 today), ‘Willowfield House plus land at Steeple Aston (£1,500 or £79,350 today) purchased by the School. Will be used to house 3 Masters, a Housekeeper and 10 boys under the overall supervision of Freddie Yorke previously House Master of Cowell’s (Governors Meeting, March 1949) Construction of five self contained flats at Apsley Paddox for married Masters cost £1, 974 (£104,424 today) Provision by Air Ministry of Hut for the Corps R.A.F. Section (Jack Tate list 1955) Restoration of the Pavilion (Jack Tate list 1955). 1949 - A tablet with the names of the fallen in gilt lettering added to the Memorial Chapel, after the original project of an Apsidal Wall for the Calvary has to be abandoned due to lack of funds. Cost is £340 (£16,694 today). Also estimate for a possible new War Memorial Library received at £13,300 (£653,030 today) building plus fittings - which the Governing Body feel is too high but agree should go to tender (General Purposes Meeting, February 1948) New pews installed in Chapel Loft (General Purposes Meeting, February 1949) Proposed new War Memorial Library project put on hold as no license from the Ministry of Works will be forthcoming on ‘account of the acute labour position in Oxford’. A further application will be made in 1950 (General Purposes Meeting, May 1949) New War Memorial panels now in position in Memorial Chapel which will be dedicated by Robert Mortimer, the Bishop of Exeter (O.S.E.), in June 1949 (General Purposes Meeting, May 1949) School let a small plot of land east of Big School to the War Office at a nominal rent for the use of the School’s C.C.F. (General Purposes Meeting, May 1949) The School’s plans for the redevelopment of Apsley Paddox accepted by the Governors. Already agreed with the City Architect and the Town Planning Committee, it is anticipated that a common sewer would be allowed without the requirement of a new lay out of ‘a bye-law street so long as the property remained under the control of the School, solely housing its own staff’. Building lines will be arranged at some future date so that a satisfactory road could be laid out and the School will need to give an undertaking to carry out this work if at any time it wished to dispose of the property. The Town Planning Committee could not approve any plan until an alternative site for two State Schools, at present provisionally proposed as sited on the School property. Providing an alternative site could be arranged for these schools, the School plans to build four houses in a first stage and up to five in a second stage to the west of Field House, with yet another five more houses in a third stage to the east of Field House. A rough sales price estimate for the three-bedroom houses (designed for enlargement if needed) is £10,800 £530,280 today) in the first stage and £14,800 £726,680 today) for the second (Governors’ Meeting, November 1949). The application to build five houses for married Masters is turned down by the Council. Some hope remains that the School might be permitted ‘to take over any license to build granted by the authorities for individual Masters’ (General Purposes Meeting, February 1950) Lease on 237 Banbury Road given up by the School Reading Room and Games Room provided in basement of Macnamara’s House (Jack Tate list 1955) Construction of new Piggeries (Jack Tate list 1955) Provision of Territorial Army Association clothing store (Jack Tate list 1955).