St Gabriel's School

St Gabriel's School

Sandleford Priory (west front), 2014.
Established	1947
Type	Independent day school
Religion	Church of England
Principal	Richard Smith
Chair of Governors	Nigel Garland
Location	Sandleford Priory Newbury Berkshire RG20 9BD  England Coordinates: 51°22′39″N 1°19′00″W / 51.3776°N 1.3166°W / 51.3776; -1.3166
Local authority	West Berkshire
DfE number	869/6004
DfE URN	110128 Tables
Students	500+
Gender	Mixed
Ages	3–18
Colours	Yellow and blue
GCSE results	482.5 points/student
Website	www.stgabriels.co.uk

St Gabriel's School is an independent day school located in Sandleford Priory at Sandleford, two miles (3 km) south of Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. Boys attend the nursery and junior school, up to age 11 (Year 6).

The Priory of St John the Baptist at Sandleford was founded for the Augustinian Canons Regular by Geoffrey, Earl of Perch and his wife Maud some time between 1193 and 1202.

In 1274, Maud de Clare, Countess of Gloucester and Hertford made arrangements to refound it as a double house for Fontevrault Benedictine nuns and brothers, but this did not come about. It was dissolved in 1478 and abandoned by the remaining monks after years of mismanagement by a prior. The ownership fell into the hands of the Bishop of Salisbury, and circa 1480 passed to the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. The old priory chapel is the present library. The remains were converted to a country house which was leased out to a number of wealthy citizens during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, these included:

The present Sandleford Priory is a Grade I listed building in 54 acres (22 ha) of parkland landscaped by Capability Brown. It was erected around the old priory buildings between 1780 and 1786 by James Wyatt, for Elizabeth Montagu, the social reformer, patron of the arts, salonist, literary critic and writer who helped organise and lead the . It was later inherited by her nephew, Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby. Her friend Hannah More was there often and described it in 1784.