Merchant Taylors' School

Merchant Taylors’ School stands on a 115-hectare campus at Sandy Lodge near Northwood in Hertfordshire’s Three Rivers district. Founded in 1561 by members of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, it moved to its present grounds in 1933. The school educates 1,100 boys aged 11 to 18 and merged with Northwood Prep School in 2015 to become an all-through school for ages 3 to 18. Its history includes surviving repeated outbreaks of plague and rebuilding after the Great Fire of London destroyed the original City buildings. The first headmaster, Richard Mulcaster, shaped early teaching methods and wrote influential works on education. The school’s past connects to notable figures and events in English history. Sir Rowland Hill, who coordinated the Geneva Bible translation, presided over a rent-payment ritual linked to the school in the 16th century. Mulcaster’s pupils included Edmund Spenser, and his books promoted English alongside Latin. Headmaster William Hayne introduced regular inspections and examinations, though he was later dismissed for financial misconduct. The school also played a role during the Civil War when headmaster William Staple was removed for his royalist views. Visitors to the site find a spacious campus with modern facilities alongside historic buildings. The school’s grounds include playing fields, woodland and purpose-built classrooms for all age groups. The original schoolroom traditions survive in the daily routines of lessons and supervised study. A sense of continuity is felt in the preserved customs and the long line of headmasters who shaped its identity. The campus remains a working school, yet its heritage is visible in the names and stories attached to its buildings.