Haberdashers' Adams

Haberdashers' Adams is a grammar school in Newport, Shropshire, set in the town centre beside the River Meese. Founded in 1656 by William Adams, a London haberdasher, it began as a boys’ boarding school and still keeps a boys’ boarding house. The original classroom block, called Big School, survives from the 17th century. Over the centuries the school has grown, adding Main School in the 1920s and later boarding houses along Lower Bar. A science block went up in the 1960s, and a gym was turned into a theatre before becoming a Sixth Form Centre. The school’s history is marked by William Adams’s gift of a 900-acre farm at Knighton to fund its future. After the First World War a memorial tablet was placed in Main School for the 45 Old Boys who died. In 1993 girls joined the sixth form for the first time, and in 2024 the first girls entered Year 7. The Haberdashers’ Company has supported major building projects, including Longford Hall as a boarding house and the Coach House music department. Visitors walk past Big School and see the 1920s Main School with its war memorials in the library. The S-Block and later Paddock Block frame the playground, while the music block now occupies the converted Coach House on Salters Lane. The Sixth Form Centre sits where the gym once stood, and the theatre occupies the former science block. The school’s grounds stretch along the riverbank, giving a quiet edge to the busy town centre site.