Taunton's School was founded in 1760 with money bequeathed by Richard Taunton, a local wine merchant and privateer. The school, the original intentions of which were to provide education with a career at sea in mind, started with just 20 pupils but soon prospered and grew. In 1865 new purpose-built school buildings in New Road were opened. The school remained in New Road until 1927 when it moved to a new site in Highfield. In 1978 girls were admitted to the school. In 1993 it merged with Hill College and moved on Hill College's site in Hill Lane, with the new name of Taunton's College. In 2012 it was again renamed, as Richard Taunton Sixth Form College. The school buildings in Highfield were taken over by the University of Southampton.
The following is a list of known sites for the school:
-1847 The earliest known building was at 62 East Street.
1847-1851 5-6 Grove Street
1851-1857 High Street
1857-1861 7 Windsor Terrace
1861-1864 Junction of Liverpool Street (later Everton Street) and Kingsfield Road
1865-1876 New Road
1876-1926 New Road buildings re-built
1927-1939 Highfield
1939-1945 Evacuated to Bournemouth and joined with Bournemouth School, East Way, for the duration of the war
1945 Temporarily at Foundry Lane School in Shirley
1945-1993 Highfield
1993- Hill Lane
Notable ex-pupils include:
Daniel Beak
Donald Finlay
Charles Knott (the younger)
Bob Mitchell
Eric Moon
Frank Padfield
Horace Maybray-King was a teacher at the school.
1. 5-6 Grove Street
The buildings, now demolished, which housed the school 1847-1851
1. 5-6 Grove Street×
2. Liverpool Street
The buildings, now demolished, which housed the school 1861-1864
2. Liverpool Street×
3. Taunton's School, New Road
An engraving of the New Road premises, 1899
3. Taunton's School, New Road×
4. Taunton's School, Highfield
The building in Highfield, photographed in 1960
4. Taunton's School, Highfield×
See also:
Cockroads Farm and Lane
Taunton, Richard
Further reading:
History of Taunton’s School 1760-1967, by H. Spooner. (HS/ls)
History of Southampton, by Rev. J. S. Davies, p323-325. (HS/h)
External links:
- Echo article about the evacuation of the school during the war
- Old Tauntonian's Association College History
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