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Come have a look. Just stand over there.
We're now in the fourth form room, which is the original classroom going back to 1615. It was originally
a free boys school, a grammar school. Um, and it was four forms, which is why it's called
the fourth form room so four forms or four classes were in here. The big chair up there
is for the headmaster. It's like a pulpit in church, isn't it?
He'd sit up there. His assistant would actually sit at the other end of the room. Then we
would move clockwise going from class to class like that. We'd move around.
They would sit there to make sure everybody behaved themselves. If they didn't behave
themselves in those days, they had to be punished.
Had this equipment, covered birch in the cabinet there. Custodians job. That's me. My job was
the produce the birch, and obviously to watch the headmaster carry out the punishment.
They would be bent over this stool here, known as the birching stool. Bare back to face the
rest of the school, and then the headmaster would get the birch out and hit the boys in
the small of the back, bare back, in front of the rest of the school so the rest of the
school could see the punishment and mostly advise them not to do any wrongs.
Once they were punished, then they would vinegar and brown paper on their back to draw out
the wound and carry on with their merry day.
You're probably wondering about all this graffiti on the furniture. It did start off as graffiti.
Would I use it? I would have no problem using it.
But no, I'm only joking.
You're probably wondering about all this graffiti on the furniture. It did start off as graffiti.
One of the boys was caught doing his name on the furniture, so obviously what do you
think would have happened to him?
He got whipped.
He got whipped alright. He got put over that and birched, but then they thought wouldn't
it be a good idea for any boy that comes to this school can carve his name in the furniture,
so they allowed that to happen.
If you can just look over to the left there. You'll find the name called Warde huge. He
carved the W-A into the panel. And the headmaster went mad because he used up so much of the
wooden panel, and he would have got a good birching for doing that. Then he put the R
and the D up. So he got another good birching. Then apparently he broke in through the window
up there and finished up by putting the E on there. But that's all we know about him.
That's the only thing we know.
Is that Peel?
That's Peel. What was he famous for?
Prime minister. And? Founder of the conservative party. And?
You know more than I do. Exactly. I can tell you like history. Yeah and politics.