History
Kingswood School was founded by John Wesley in 1748 in Kingswood (then known as King's Wood) near Bristol and was established initially for the children of local colliers. They were joined by the sons of the itinerant ministers (clergy) of the Methodist Church. Woodhouse Grove School was founded in 1812 and was linked with Kingswood as a prep school for much of the nineteenth century. Created in 1995, Kingswood Prep School currently has 300 pupils. The total number of students educated on the Kingswood School campus between the ages of 3-18 is 960.
The 1862 book How it was done at Stow School written by Theophilus Woolmer seems to have been based upon the author's own experiences at Kingswood (rather than Stowe School which was not yet established) under the notorious headmaster Crowther who enforced harsh discipline in the school in the 1820s.
The school moved to its present location on the northern slopes of Bath in 1851. The old site was occupied for a while by an approved school. The present site is in the midst of 218 acres (0.88 km2) of the former Lansdown estate of the famous nineteenth-century millionaire eccentric, William Thomas Beckford. The Upper Playing Fields, comprising some 57 acres, are to the north of the senior school and include an athletics track and tennis and netball courts.
Sons of lay people were first admitted to the school in 1922.
During World War II Kingswood was used by the government for military planning. For these years the school operated from Uppingham School. It is said that the Mulberry harbours of World War II were named after the Mulberry Bush that still exists outside the formerly named Moulton Hall of the school, but this has now been discounted. The Moulton Hall was named after old boy Lord Moulton but was remodelled as a library/learning resources area in 2006, and is now called the J O Heap library following a generous bequest by another Old Boy. During World War II the younger boys were moved to Prior's Court, an estate owned by Colonel Gerald Palmer, MP for Winchester. After the war the estate was purchased from Colonel Palmer and run as a Preparatory School until it was sold in 1997. A small number of boys (around six) started in the Junior house (Westwood) before the war, moved to Prior's Court on the outbreak of war, on to Uppingham and finally back to Kingswood at the war's end.
Some girls were admitted to the Bristol site in the early days before the school became boarding only. Girls were admitted to the school in its current form from 1972.
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