The Rise and Fall of
Pierrepont School
[1189-1995]
In 1189 King Richard authorised the
division of land around Frensham and by 1208 it was being farmed by "suitable
tenants". The first record of a building near the present house is of an old
farmhouse and 300 acres purchased by a Mr John Maybanks early in the 18th century. The
house, near Tancred's ford, was enlarged and renamed Clinton Lodge and finally sold in
1760 to Evelyn Pierrepont, after whom the present house is named. He was the 2nd Duke of Kingston upon Hull, an English Civil war title bestowed by King Charles the First. His actual family estate was at Holme Pierrepont in Nottinghamshire and he was described as the richest man in England. He had no direct heirs and the property changed hands several times after his death. In 1785 the estate was purchased by Ralph Winstanley Wood who had made a fortune trading in salt. He decided to demolish the house and move its location. He built a new one, which he called Highfield, on the site of the present Pierrepont House and lived there until 1820.
During further changes in ownership the estate grew to 1500 acres and in 1862
it was bought by Richard Combe JP. He also decided to demolish the existing house,
Highfield, and on the same site build a new one, which he called Pierrepont, the house we
have today. Designed by Norman Shaw and built by Frank Birch it was completed in 1876. Pierrepont House became a centre of high society. It is recorded that it was visited by King Edward VII after a troop review and by King George V after a similar occasion. Richard Combe died in 1939 and his wife in 1941; their deaths marked the end of Pierrepont House as a private residence.
The whole of the Pierrepont estate, which by now had increased to 2655 acres, was put up for auction. It included innumerable cottages, two farms, smallholdings, the Pond Hotel, part of Frensham Great pond and the entire Little Pond; also Tancred's Ford, Frensham, Hankley, Bealswood and part of Tilford Common. Pierrepont House and its 46 acres were purchased separately from the remainder of the estate.
The Second World War had started and immediately after Pierrepont's purchase
it was requisitioned by the War Department and was occupied in turn by Canadian and
British Troops. Electricity and an additional water supply were installed and a number of
small buildings were added. After the war Pierrepont House and estate were purchased by Major TJ Parry in 1946. It opened a year later as a boarding school for boys and eventually accommodated 280 boarding and day pupils. New buildings were constructed and a swimming pool and an armoury were added. The present Highfield was built in 1962 as the headmaster's house. Major Parry died in 1958 and the house and estate passed to his son. The school was administered by a board of Governors.
The school had several heads during the ensuing period, but our history came
following the death of Anthony Hill in 1983. John Payne took over the reins as Headmaster.
Alan Kirk became the new Vice-Headmaster as Ed Smitheram left to seek a Headship
elsewhere. In the late eighties the school had begun to run into financial difficulties and was failing to attract new pupils. They had overextended themselves in an effort to make the school more attractive through new build investment for Information Technology, Art etc and a Sports Centre. The Bank was not prepared to extend their facility as they were only a tenant and could offer no collateral in return.
John Payne left in 1992 and Alan Kirk took over the reins until early 1993 when Nigel Taylor was brought in. Things didn’t improve and the school was forced to close down in the Summer of 1993 as it was no longer a viable concern.
It remained empty for two years until it was purchased by Ellel Ministries in February 1995 to be an international healing and residential centre.
The closure of the school was a painful experience for many and I know the majority of 'Old Boys/Girls' will have been very sad to see it gone. If you have strong memories of this time we are publishing the personal experiences of the staff and 'Old Boys' who lived through this period in the memoirs section and as an archive below.
DISCLAIMER : The opinions and views represented below are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Pierrepont-School website administrator. The content is carefully reviewed before being placed online. Any complaint about the content should be made through the and if upheld will result in that webpage being removed.
 |
John Dutfield, 1989 to1990 |