Grammar school Taplow, circa 1926?

[t.m.poster]

I was there,very briefly,and only as a very junior Junior.It must have been circa 1945 and the school closed within a few years of my leaving.The headmaster,Mr Williams,had a military background I believe.His wife was the school nurse.The uniform was a deep red with silver piping...a cross on the cap.It certainly stood out on the platform at Paddington.
Tom Warner

[MrBushy]

Hello everyone,

  I've just found this forum-my Dad went to a boarding grammar school in Taplow which sounds very much like the one being discussed here. I don't know a lot about it but he said one of the boys was a keen train spotter & the school was very near to the GWR main line-possibly with the playing fields actually bordering the line? Looking on modern satellite mapping the area formerly occupied by the school is now Hillmead Court in the angle of Boundary Road & Station Road. On maps circa 1930 & earlier the building is called 'The Limes' although that doesn't ring any bells with anything my Dad told me but the recreation grounds run right down the western side of Station road to the railway embankment so it does indeed appear to be the same school. I also recall him talking about the tuck shop but that's about all I have I'm afraid. His name was Derek Simmonds from Hornsey North London & he was born in 1924, I don't know exactly when he started at this school but it was probably around 1930-32, he left in 1942. I wonder if any of the former pupils on here remember him?

  John.

[sandyshell]

Hi: I am writing from Cape Town, South Africa. The subject of a biography I am writing as a post-doc project (Sir George Cory) attended Taplow Grammar School during 1874-1875 and describes it as it was then in lively detail, though briefly. When did the TGS cease to exist i.e. before being supplanted by "The Limes" or "Hillmead Court" as MrBushy tells us so helpfully? I had imagined it might have been situated in the trapezoid space bounded by Station Road, Boundary Road, Hitcham Road and Institute Road, very close to the railway line on the modern online maps? Its a little tricky for me to go and scout around in Taplow, given my location so I would be grateful to anyone who can pick up on this? Thanks and best wishes, Sandy

[Regorian]

From the information provided earlier, Taplow railway station and the roads given, it appears that the site is now Phoenix Rugby Football Club, Institute Road SL6 0NS. Thats a zero not an 'o'. They have a website but no old building evident.   

[MrBushy]

Hi Sandy,

  Nice to hear from you-here are the two maps I used for my research, firstly  one dated 1888-1913: http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=51.5264&lon=-0.6798&layers=6 & secondly one dated 1937-1961 : http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=51.5292&lon=-0.6868&layers=10 neither appear to show any building of significant size in trapezium shaped area you mention but I'm not entirely certain the building formerly occupying the current location of The Limes/Hillmead Court was the school in question either so I think we do need some more hard evidence! If these links don't show as active then simply copy & paste the URLs into your browser, the mapping site allows a graduated overlay to present-day satellite imaging by sliding the blue dot at the bottom-left of the page.

  John.

[sandyshell]

Hi, John:

Thank you so much for your hyperlinks which are perfect for what I am trying to do (not just for Taplow). I am greatly indebted to you for taking the time to send the links which will prove invaluable throughout my research. As a map enthusiast, I am thrilled to discover the NLS offers these maps as well as the facility for graduated overlays to present-day scenarios ... a great discovery, thanks to you! If you find anything further do let me know --- as I will if something else turns up in Cory's writing that I haven't found yet (which is unlikely) and of course I am 7,000 miles away from an on the ground or in the local archives search in and around Taplow.

I look forward to hearing further from you. And thank you again.

Sandy

[sandyshell]

Hi John:

Yesterday I forgot to follow through on an early post re Taplow Grammar School which referred us to additional strings (which I am sure you know well). Yvon-3's memory certainly seems to agree with your Boundary Road/Station Road corner theory:

Hi, I have just seen your post about the Grammer School in Taplow. The School was located on the corner of Boundary Road and Station Road. It was knocked down in the 1970's and some flats were built. It was a large white building and had Georgian style windows. I grew up in Taplow and lived at the Station House. I used to walk past this school every day as a small child on my way to Taplow Infants school. I only ever remember it being an empty building. I think it must have closed before I started school in 1963. I also think it was a boarding School. It may say that it is the rural sanitary district of Eton but it is about 8-10 miles from Eton its self. I hope this is of interest to you. If you would like any more info on the area please contact me.
Yvon

Is there a word limit to our posts? I must look. In case there is I will paste Cory's opening passage about TGS from his Recollections in a following post. It may be of interest to you and any others interested in TGS during the 19th century (Cory is writing about his time at TGS in 1874-1875).

Sandy

[sandyshell]

George Cory on Taplow Grammar School in the autumn of 1874:
"... we were in the train and making for Taplow—bound for the Taplow Grammar School near Maidenhead. From the front Taplow G. School looked like a fine mansion standing in its own garden—a portico with steps leading to the front door. The back of the house had been added to obviously for the purpose of a school. These additions were of two stories; the first part was a dining room on the ground floor with a dormitory (the blue room) above—all this joined on to a second two-storied house which was comprised of schoolrooms and more dormitories—the whole stood in a large playground—with giant stride, horizontal and parallel bars etc. The mansion part in front was Mr. Dyke’s (the proprietor) private apartments and more dormitories. By the side of the house was Mr. Dyke’s private fruit garden. Father took us to the school and having had an interview with Mr. Dyke in the drawing room on the right of the well furnished front hall—he left us—and we have never seen him since. This must have been some time in the autumn of 1874. So now we were at school again. There must have been somewhere about 100 boys at the school, all boarders, chiefly the sons of middle class people."
Sandy

[MrBushy]

Hi Sandy,

  So glad you found the map link of interest, I agree it's an excellent tool. To digress form the main subject a little I am very interested in disused railways & that NLS map site has some splendid coverage from days gone by-especially good is the OS Six Inch 1888-1913 which gives great detail of old lines. Another good resource is Oldmaps but the navigation is terrible because they want you to buy maps rather then use the site for reference. However-selecting the OS County Series BUCKINGHAMSHIRE (partial) 1931-1938 1:2,500 map it shows a complex system of railway lines zigzagging across the field to the gravel pit in the area bounded by Station Road, Boundary Road, Hitcham Road & Institute Road. This feature is strangely missed by the selection of maps on the NLS site so perhaps the system was only operative for a very short number of years? Even so the period of the mapping 1931-38 was when my Dad was at the school-(called 'The Limes' on this) although I don't recall him saying anything about the gravel pits or the internal railway system therein. The railway system in question was called Taplow Sand & Gravel Railway & was connected to the GWR main line just east of Taplow Station.

Here is the link: https://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html#/Map/491500/182500/12/101175 As I was saying this site is incredibly useless for navigational purposes so once it's loaded zoom out twice & drag the map up a couple of times & the area should appear. Hopefully this has been of interest!

  John.