Country houses repurposed as private schools: building on inequality

ABSTRACT

This article explores the phenomenon of country houses repurposed as private schools. It investigates the population of English schools within the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference and the Girls’ Schools Association and finds that some 55 of these schools are partially housed within former country houses, with 19 in Grade I listed buildings and 17 in Grade II* listed buildings. The vast majority are boarding schools, with an equal number of schools that were originally designed to be single-sex schools for boys or girls. These schools and the houses they occupy are discussed within five time periods from the eighteenth century to the present.

KEYWORDS:

• Country houses
• private schools
• history
• repurposing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Geoffrey Walford

Geoffrey Walford is Emeritus Professor of Education and Emeritus Fellow of Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford.