Tuesday 4th February 2020
OS, Nick McCarthy, discusses the Schools' stone carvings
Old Stamfordian, Nick McCarthy, reports on the history of the stone carvings found in and around the Schools:"At Stamford School there are a number of stone carvings, some inside the Chapel, some outside of the Reading Room and some on the lead roof of Brazenose House. Whilst admittedly not quite in the same league as the graffiti at Eton and King’s Grantham where the names of Horatio Nelson and Isaac Newton can be discerned, Stamford has at certain points in its history had boys who found time to carve a lasting reminder of their time at the School."For the most part, the carvings amount to nothing more than initials, one letter or two at most, but in three instances, an entire name is legible. I refer to the names found on the wall, underneath the window outside the Chapel Reading Room, at which rests a tablet with a number of carved inscriptions. Only a few of these inscriptions remain legible, together with the date of 1839, and (at present) only three names can positively be attributed to former boys of the school – George Clifford Pease, John Fearenside, and Charles William Arnold. Who were these boys? What were their lives, both before, during, and post Stamford? "In compiling the following information I acknowledge my indebtedness to: Barbara Gray (Honorary Archivist, King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford); www.arnoldlodgesurbiton.org.uk; www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/ and John Bulls in the Orange Groves (1979) by Paul W. Wehr."