Wrekin College and Old Hall School | |
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Location | |
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Sutherland Road , , TF1 3BH England | |
Coordinates | 52°42′09″N2°30′36″W / 52.7024°N 2.5100°W |
Information | |
Type | Public School Private day and boarding school |
Motto | Latin: Aut vincere aut mori (Either to conquer or to die) |
Religious affiliation(s) | Church of England |
Established | 1880 (Wrekin College); 1835 The Old Hall School |
Founder | Sir John Bayley (Wrekin College); Dr J Edward. Cranage (Old Hall School) |
Chairman of Governing Body | Richard Pearson |
Headteachers | Vacant (Wrekin College); Vacant (Wrekin Prep) |
Gender | Co-educational |
Age | 11 (Wrekin College); 4 (Wrekin Prep)to 18 (Wrekin College; 11 (Old Hall School) |
Number of students | 560 (Wrekin College); 229 (Wrekin Prepl) |
Houses | Bayley, Clarkson, Lancaster, Roslyn, Tudor, York. Former houses: Hanover, Norman, Eastfield, Saxon. Windsor, Old Hall houses: Ercall, Leighton, Wenlock, Cressage |
Colour(s) | Wrekin College: The Old Hall School: |
Publication | The Wrekinian |
Wrekin College is a private co-educational boarding and day school located in Wellington, Shropshire, England. It was founded by Sir John Bayley in 1880.
In 2006, The Old Hall School, a distinct preparatory school that had existed since 1835, merged with Wrekin College. While they operated as a single trust and shared a campus, the two schools maintained their separate identities until 2025. In that year, Wrekin College officially closed The Old Hall School, bringing its long history to an end, and immediately opened a new preparatory school on the same site under the new name of Wrekin Prep. [1]
Part of the Allied Schools, it is also a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
The school was founded in 1880 as Wellington College by Sir John Bayley.[ citation needed ]
In 1915 less than 100 acres (0.40 km2) of the Lilleshall Hall estate were purchased from the Duke of Sutherland, who retained the Hall and 50 acres (200,000 m2).[ citation needed ]
In 1920, it was sold to the Revd Percy Warrington,[ citation needed ] a Church of England clergyman and renamed Wrekin College. The Rev. Canon Guy Pentreath was a notable headmaster from 1943 to 1952.
Girls were introduced to the sixth form by headmaster Geoffrey Hadden in 1975.
It became fully co-educational in the year 1983. There are currently approximately 560 pupils including a number of international boarders.
The school admits pupils from the age of eleven.[ citation needed ]
Wrekin Prep was opened in 2025, by closing The Old Hall School and opening the new institution. [2]
It currently has an acting head, with the position of headteacher vacant until 2026 when it is expected Craig Williams will take on the role. [3]
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In 2023 Wrekin was named as one of The Cricketer’s Top 100 cricketing schools in the country and in 2022 both the Under 16 and Under 13 rugby teams were named county champions. [20]
A music school was opened in 2020 costing over £2m. [21]
Wrekin college has a blue flag with a rampant lion and "Wrekin" written on it. [22]
Wrekin college has been granted a coat of arms. [23]
Queen Elizabeth II visited Wrekin on Friday 17 March 1967, having opened Shire Hall in Shrewsbury earlier that day. The Headmaster, Robert Dahl (Headmaster. 1952-71), greeted the Queen, and in his study presented a specially bound copy of B.C.W Johnson’s A Brief History of Wrekin College, whilst Head of School, David Franklin (W. 1961-67) was given the honour of presenting a cricket bat for her sons[ citation needed ].
In 1907 the Old Wrekinian Association (OWA) was created by 14 past pupils, it now has almost 6000 members. The purpose of the OWA is to help past students keep in touch with one another and the school. The OWA Record magazine is published twice a year.[ citation needed ]
In 2006, the trust was merged with that of The Old Hall Preparatory School (founded 1845), which moved from its original site on Limekiln Lane to the site of Wrekin College. [24]
The resulting trust is called The Wrekin Old Hall Trust. [25]
The Old Hall Preparatory School run from Wellington 0f 190 years until 2025 when it was cessed to operate independently, and was relaunched as Wrekin Prep. [26]
It was founded in 1835 [27] [28] by Dr J.E. (Joseph Edward) Cranage, providing originally for the education of boys only, being described in 1891 as:
one of the most widely known and popular educational establishments for gentlemen's sons in the Midlands [29]
In founding the school, Cranage was inspired by the example of Thomas Arnold at Rugby School, [30] he was aged just nineteen years at the time but had already completed an MA and PhD. [31] The school promised a:
A general and thoroughly liberal education is given. Boys are prepared for the Universities.. without a too exclusive attention to Greek and Latin [32] [33]
It operated for its first century and a half from a building understood to have been constructed in the 1400s. [34]
A chapel was added as a war memorial in 1922. [35] That chapel has since been converted into a residence, but the memorial tablets were moved to the Wrekin College chapel. [36]
Pupils of the school included Crown Princes of India, [37] and David Morrieson Panton. [38] Its motto was in Latin: "Utor non abutor" (I use, I do not abuse).
The writer Bruce Chatwin attended the school, [39] The London Review of Books published The Seventh Day, practically the last story Bruce Chatwin wrote. The semi-autobiographical account of a “nervous and skinny boy with thick fair hair” who hated boarding school so much he developed a near fatal bout of constipation, the tale was largely based on the writer’s own experiences at The Old Hall. [40]
The Old Hall appointed Ms Anna Karacan as headteacher in 2022, the first woman to hold the role in 188 years of the school to that point. [41]
She subsequently left within three years, [42] and the school was formally closed as The Old Hall, to be reopened at "Wrekin Prep". [43]
![]() | This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy.(August 2025) |
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(help)1. ^ Manwaring, Randle (2002). From Controversy to Co-Existence: Evangelicals in the Church of England 1914–1980. Cambridge: CUP. p. 57.