Quantock Lodge
Encyclopedia
] Quantock Lodge is a green-grey nineteenth-century mansion built by Henry Clutton
from Cockercombe tuff
and is located near the hamlet
of Aley, near the village of Over Stowey
in the English county of Somerset
. It was the family home of Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton
, and in the 1960s was purchased by David Peaster, the headmaster of Cotham School
in Bristol
. The first three pupils came from Cotham High School and they were Richard Williams, Laurie Booth and Tony Budget.
Laurie wrote this about his first day at the school:
"I was set down from my father's car at the age of fourteen; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life at Quantock began.
The summer grass, amongst which I stood, was taller than I was, and I wept. I had never been so close to grass before and so alone. The School towered above me and all around me, each turret tattooed with tiger-skins of sunlight. It was knife-edged, dark, and a wicked green, I was lost and didn't know where to move.
Never to be forgotten, that first long day of a Quantock summer.
Never to be forgotten, or ever tasted again..."
Peaster ran both schools with Cotham High School closing in 1966, and Quantock had a boys-only intake, mainly composed of the sons of diplomats and armed services personnel. The 1960s and early 1970s saw a high point for the school, with it being described as 'The Gordonstoun of the West'.
In 1986 Quantock School went co-educational, but soon after the turn of the 1990s was in gradual decline, due in the main to the end of the Cold War and the closing of a number of overseas service bases, which in turn led to a drying up of new pupils. The return of the colony of Hong Kong to China in 1997 also had a serious impact on the school population. In 1998, Quantock School closed.
Following the death of David Peaster in 2000, the school reverted to its former name of Quantock Lodge, and was remarketed by Peaster's widow Jane as a centre for recreation and banqueting. It is also a recognised youth summer camp centre.
Henry Clutton
Henry Clutton was an English architect and designer and a student of Edward Blore and also worked with William Burges.-Work:* Battle Abbey, Sussex* Cliveden, Buckinghamshire* Hoar Cross Hall, Staffordshire...
from Cockercombe tuff
Cockercombe tuff
Cockercombe Tuff is a greenish-grey, hard pyroclastic rock, formed by the compression of volcanic ash containing high quantities of chlorite, which gives it its distinctive colour...
and is located near the hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Aley, near the village of Over Stowey
Over Stowey
Over Stowey is a small village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, South West England. It sits in the foothills of the Quantock Hills, just below Nether Stowey and north-west of Bridgwater...
in the English county of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. It was the family home of Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton
Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton
Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton PC was a prominent British Whig and Liberal Party politician of the mid-19th century.-Background and education:...
, and in the 1960s was purchased by David Peaster, the headmaster of Cotham School
Cotham School
Cotham School is a secondary school with academy status in Cotham, a suburb of Bristol, England.-History:Its predecessor was the Merchant Venturers School.Until the academic year 2000/01, Cotham was a Grammar School...
in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. The first three pupils came from Cotham High School and they were Richard Williams, Laurie Booth and Tony Budget.
Laurie wrote this about his first day at the school:
"I was set down from my father's car at the age of fourteen; and there with a sense of bewilderment and terror my life at Quantock began.
The summer grass, amongst which I stood, was taller than I was, and I wept. I had never been so close to grass before and so alone. The School towered above me and all around me, each turret tattooed with tiger-skins of sunlight. It was knife-edged, dark, and a wicked green, I was lost and didn't know where to move.
Never to be forgotten, that first long day of a Quantock summer.
Never to be forgotten, or ever tasted again..."
Peaster ran both schools with Cotham High School closing in 1966, and Quantock had a boys-only intake, mainly composed of the sons of diplomats and armed services personnel. The 1960s and early 1970s saw a high point for the school, with it being described as 'The Gordonstoun of the West'.
In 1986 Quantock School went co-educational, but soon after the turn of the 1990s was in gradual decline, due in the main to the end of the Cold War and the closing of a number of overseas service bases, which in turn led to a drying up of new pupils. The return of the colony of Hong Kong to China in 1997 also had a serious impact on the school population. In 1998, Quantock School closed.
Following the death of David Peaster in 2000, the school reverted to its former name of Quantock Lodge, and was remarketed by Peaster's widow Jane as a centre for recreation and banqueting. It is also a recognised youth summer camp centre.