No.129
The Trusty Servant
In searching for Wykeham’s motives
for founding the school, then, we can
simply take his professed motives
at face-value: he wanted to give an
education to boys who may not have
been able to afford one so that the
parishioners of the diocese could be
served by a competent priest.
Surprisingly, the Statutes do not
mention what to do in the event of
a plague. Wykeham did, however,
lay down detailed instructions
for keeping his new school free of
sickness. Any scholars who fell ill
could to stay in College as normal for
a month (in practice confined to their
chambers); should the illness persist,
they should be removed to ‘a decent
place outside the College’ with an
allowance for three months; any still
ill at the end of that would ‘cease to
be scholars’ and be replaced within
eight days to keep the numbers at
their foundational level. The danger
of water-borne diseases breaking out
was lessened by the on-site Brewery,
which continued to supply a daily
alcohol-purified beverage to the pupils
until 1916.
When an epidemic did strike
the medieval school, the whole
community was simply sent home.
In fact, such summer absences were
so common in the early 16 th century
that one school historian mistook
them for a regular holiday (pupils at
this time were only granted a vacation
at Whitsuntide). In 1543, when the
Great Death spread to Winchester
from London, the boys were away
for 18 weeks – no opportunities
for remote learning via Skype and
OneNote back then!
To avoid a repetition of such
extended absences, the school
designated Moundsmere, a manor
south of Basingstoke acquired in 1544
in a land-swap with Henry VIII, as a
refuge to which the whole community
could be evacuated during future
epidemics. A barn was built for their
Map of Moundsmere manor, William Hampton, 1771, watercolour
reception with money given to the
College by Mary Tudor and Philip
of Spain on the occasion of their
wedding in Winchester. The tenant of
the manor remained bound by lease
to set aside rooms for evacuation
up until 1887. The barn, alas, burnt
down in 1915, but can be seen on the
1771 map of Moundsmere.
The early 17 th century saw several
outbreaks of plague. The 1603
outbreak caused the Law Courts
to be moved from London to
Winchester; James I turned the
school out of its buildings so that
his judges and sergeants could be
housed – consequently, no pupil had
the chance to witness the trial of Sir
Walter Raleigh in the Great Hall.
In 1625 the worst outbreak since
the Black Death hit Winchester,
causing the principal and wealthiest
inhabitants of the city to flee. The
Wykehamists decamped too, but to
Silkstead near Hursley rather than to
Moundsmere.
The 1665-6 Great Plague of London,
recorded most famously by Samuel
Pepys but also by OW William Emes,
4
also reached Winchester. Its eventual
passing is commemorated by the
1759 obelisk near the West Gate, on
the site just outside the city walls
where remaining citizens purchased
essentials from traders unwilling to
enter the city; supposedly they left
the money in bowls of vinegar. There
was a mass exodus into countryside;
the pupils of Winchester College
were evacuated again for the month
of Pentecost, this time to a farm-
house rented in Crawley, with £2
paid to allow the boys to play in an
adjoining meadow. There is a theory
(‘circumstantial only, but none the
less attractive’ – Sabben-Clare) that
it was pupils quarantined there who
wrote ‘Domum’, longing for the
homes where they would usually be
spending their Whitsun holidays.
The practice of leaving sick scholars
in their chambers to infect their
peers for a month was ended by
the construction of Sick House in
1656-7 by Warden John Harris, who
is commemorated in the poignant
inscription to the right of the door:
‘The boys’ prayer for the builder. May