Friends' School ~ Founded in 1702

1963 Film Click on the image on the left to see the 1963 Film of the School made by Matthew Robinson in 1963.

32 whole school photos from 2005 to 1922 have now been scanned and are available for viewing. Click on either of the photos below to access this page.

To find out more about the book published to mark the Tercentenary of the school click on the picture below:

Asphalt Cricket in about 1957 The white stumps painted on the wall can still be seen. Click on the photo to enlarge.

The Junior School when it was located in what is now Croydon House in about 1936.

Click on the photos to enlarge.

From Friends' School Croydon

The School was in Croydon from 1825 to 1879.

Click on these photos to enlarge

Photos taken of the front and back of Croydon School in about 1879

Photo of group taken at Croydon. Date 18??

Two items have found their way to Saffron Walden. The gates are now between Leicester and Crosfield teaching blocks, and the clock faces south down our Avenue.

Thanks to Elwyn Goldsbury in New Zealand who sent these photos and letter from his great grandfather Alfred Goldsbury who was at Croydon in the early 1860s. Click on the images to enlarge.

Alfred Goldsbury is 1st on the left on the back row

Names of those in the 1861 photo

Alfred Goldsbury is 4th from the left on the back row in this photo taken between 1861 and 1864.

A letter written by Alfred Goldsbury to his parents when he was 14 years old.

It seems that pupils had to leave school when they were 15 years old!

'A COMMUNITY THROUGH THREE CENTURIES'

Calendar of the main events in the history of Friends' School. The story of Friends' School, Saffron Walden 1702-2002 By Roger Buss (Former Old Scholar archivist) January 2003 Click here to see this year by year chronology of the school's history in MS Word format or click here to see it in pdf format. N.B. It is best to download the above by right clicking on a link and choosing 'Save Target As' - then follow the instructions to save to your hard drive.

Click on the picture below to see the Timeline showing the History of the School over the last 300 years. 

or if you would like to download higher quality images CLICK HERE for 292kb or CLICK HERE for 1,004kb If you would like to print out a copy of the timeline then download this *pdf file by CLICKING HERE

Click on the picture below to see what the school looked like from the back, in about 1880; soon after the new buildings were erected at Saffron Walden.

( Note the pennyfarthing bicycle! Although there were equal numbers of boys and girls, the girls do not feature in this photo! )

file size 488kb

Richard Hutton's 'Complaints Book' The notebook of the Steward of the Quaker workhouse at Clerkenwell, 1711-1737. The workhouse at Clerkenwell was started in 1702 and developed into our school. Click on the image on the left to see an online copy of this fascinating historical set of personal notes about life in our school almost 300 years ago.

Almost 20 years ago now, Tim Hitchcock, Professor of Eighteenth-Century History at the University of Hertfordshire, transcribed and edited the 'Complaints Book' of one of the School's earliest masters. This was published as Richard Hutton's Complaints Book by the London Records Society (vol. 24, 1987). The Society has now posted most of its publications on the web, and among the resources available is vol. 24.

Click here to read an introduction to this book by a former Head of Friends' School John Woods on page12 in our Tercentenary Book 'The School on the Hill'.

*pdf files can be viewed with Acrobat Reader. If you have not got a copy of this installed on your computer then download your free copy by clicking on this button