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ATHORPE
Athorpe is located south of Segrave, and was the poorest of the housebases in the '80s and '90s. But it had a succession of good pinball machines and was eventually the only one with a machine. Obviously Mr Fox (then head of house) had a strong business relationship with the Illustriously Decorated Van Man. Athorpe's specialism was Art, and in the '80s the upper floor and flyovers were dotted with papier-maché men. There were two Art rooms and a Biology lab by the turn of the '90s. The lab, which was used by Mr Clarke, contained an office, and a further backroom full of stuff. It also had a flyover stuck to it which was full of variegated geraniums. The flyover went to a home ec lab in the Old 6th Form base and was totally useless to anyone as anything other than a greenhouse. The Lower School fire had almost as dramatic an effect on Athorpe as it had on Lower School, despite Athorpe being pretty much as far away from it as you can get on campus. The sudden demand for teaching space saw the rather extreme move of partitioning Athorpe's ground-floor, turning half of it into a classroom. This action was the first step in a gradual "dissolution" of the House Bases that has occurred over the last decade. The upstairs was also reorganised, and Mrs Houlton's art room became Mrs Downing's biology lab. It used to have a kiln in it for clay firing. I don't know if it still does. A
subsequent refit
has finally rendered Athorpe completely devoid of any house-base
communal
area, and also of any art classrooms. Both floors are dedicated to
biology
with the exception of a physics lab under the control of Mr
Hancock. The ground floor consists of Sc7, 8 and 9, and a prep-room
where the toilets used to be. The first floor is made up of Sc10, Sc11
and a study room, which would presumably require at least one of the
rooms
to be L-shaped. Curious if so... In 2008, Athorpe is still essentially Biology. There is a storeroom on the ground floor, and the 6th form science study area on the top floor (apparently containing some of the slowest PCs on campus). In 2011,
Athorpe effectively became a new base for the 6th-Form, with
6th-Formers pastorally allied to Athorpe. Externally
speaking,
Athorpe is physically identical to the adjacent Old 6th Form Base, but
for one less flyover. The recladding of the 6th Form Base disguised
this
similarity for a while, but now Athorpe has also been given the
red-panel
treatment (c.2005). Note that the south face as depicted on the Forster-era
letter-head (as seen on the front page of
this
site) misses the blank pannel. This seems more likely a simplification
in the drawing than an alteration to the building, especially when you
take into account the similar blank on the 6th Form Base. In my year (1990-5), Athorpe pupils were generally set-mixed with Segrave. Athorpe is named after the family who lived at Dinnington Hall back in the 17th century. Their family crest had a falcon in it. One of Vic Reeves' ancestors worked at Dinnington Hall as a game keeper. The
Athorpes also
seem to have lived at Throapham Manor for a bit.
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Athorpe's East front in 2006. It's changed a bit since the '90s, when the projection at the top of the page was formulated. The red panel has been repainted black, the whited out window has been replaced, and a 3-1-2 window block (of the shorter upstairs height) has been fitted into the bottom right panel. The flyover is also undergoing some mild revision. Beyond the scafolded flyover can be seen the flyover to Segrave, and below that (in red clad) is the Small Kitchen. The kitchen was converted into classrooms in the mid-'90s and is now Learning Support.
A stunning shot of the roof of Athorpe as seen from the Segrave fire-escape. Here you can see the water tank and some other roof furniture, plus the corner of the flyover to Segrave and Osborne. In the distance, beyond the trees, is New Street.
A dodgy
screen-cap that barely
shows Athorpe at all... (it's that black smudge on the right, where the
flyovers intersect). This shot shows the view to the left of the
previous
image, and is almost a reverse-angle of the first shot. The flyover in
the centre of frame is the useless one between Athorpe and the Old 6th
Form Base (used principally as a green-house for Mr Clarke's Biology
lab).
The flyover at 90° to it, at the bottom of the shot, is the Athorpe
- Segrave/Osborne flyover. The building we can see most of is the Old
6th
Form Base.
Approximate plans of Athorpe in the late '90s, after the division but before the first-floor refit. The ground floor is on the left, with the entrance at the top. The small box on the left in the NW classroom of the first floor (Mrs Houlton's / Mrs Downing's room) is the kiln. The partition of the ground floor was pretty much identical to that of the Old 6th Form Base a year or so earlier. For more
technical information
on the house's structure, see here.
Heads of House: Mr
Higgs & Mrs Probert
(1963-66) |
