A New Home for our Prep in the Historic Heart of Rydal Penrhos
Originally built as New House and facing the original Rydal School Old House building, Hunt House was constructed in 1901 and is the only school building proudly displaying ‘RS’ (Rydal School initials) as part of its facia.
The exterior of Grade II listed Hunt House features the same stone as seen across the school's campus. Many of the original features including the vaulted ceiling at the top of the stairs remain, along with the exquisite, mullioned windows. This is a building that has seen generations of Rydal Penrhos pupils pass through its classrooms and corridors.
In 1914, James Hunt joined Rydal School as a master teaching Classics, becoming a senior master just one year later, a post he held until his retirement in 1949. New House was renamed Hunt House in recognition of a lifetime of service dedicated to the pupils of Rydal School. Interestingly, Mr Hunt was also a passionate gardener and the boarders' flower beds adjacent to Hunt House were his particular pride and joy.
Hunt House has served as both a boarding house and a classroom building; having undergone an extensive conversion in the years following World War II, it became an academic hub for the school. In the 1960s, the top floor housed the Sixth Form Study Rooms with the Fourth Form (our current Year 9 pupils) on the lower floors. Hunt House was also home to the celebrated Rydal tuck shop, which was later replaced with the current Food Technology rooms.
In more recent years, Hunt House has been the site of our Computer Suite, which, prior to the introduction of iPads throughout the school, offered the only form of access to online and tech resources. As we redevelop Hunt House to become the new Prep, our Food Technology rooms will be moved into Costain, which is already the home of our science and language faculties.
Hunt House sits at the heart of the Rydal Penrhos campus, facing the original Rydal School buildings and with direct access into the newly refurbished Osborn Hall. The building enjoys a 360-degree vista overlooking the site, from the original 1892 buildings up to the more recent Ferguson Centre and Sports Complex. Our Prep pupils will now be able to see our hockey champions in action on the Astro Turf, where once James Hunt and his classics pupils were able to catch a cricket match on Top Field.
The newly constructed playground will sit partially on the site of the original Top Field (now the Astro Turf) and it is fitting that we restore part of the site to its original use as a play area, allowing our youngest pupils to enjoy the outdoors.