Motto | Manners makyth man |
---|---|
Established | 1382 |
Type | Independent boarding school |
Religion | Church of England |
Headmaster | Timothy Hands |
Warden | Charles Sinclair |
Founder | William of Wykeham |
Location |
College Street Winchester Hampshire SO23 9NA United Kingdom Coordinates: 51°03′30″N 1°18′45″W / 51.05834°N 1.31259°W |
DfE URN | 116532 Tables |
Staff | ~200 |
Students | ~673 |
Gender | Male |
Ages | 13–18 |
Houses | 11 (10 Commoner Houses plus college) |
Colours | Blue, Brown & Red |
Former pupils | Old Wykehamists |
School Song | Dulce Domum |
Website | www |
Winchester College is an independent boarding school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England (see List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom). It is the oldest of the original seven English public schools defined by the Clarendon Commission and regulated by the Public Schools Act 1868.
According to its statutes, the school is called in Latin Collegium Sanctae Mariae prope Wintoniam, or Collegium Beatae Mariae Wintoniensis prope Winton, which translates as St Mary's College, near Winchester, or The College of the Blessed Mary of Winchester, near Winchester. It is sometimes referred to by pupils, former pupils and others as "Win: Coll:", and is more widely known as just "Winchester".
According to the commercially published Good Schools Guide, the school "has arguably the finest tradition of scholarship of any school in the country", is "uniquely civilised", and provides an "academically, comradely and architecturally privileged boyhood most Wykehamists [i.e. pupils at the College] treasure throughout their lives." The magazine Tatler named the school as its "Public School of the Year" in 2010.
Winchester College was founded in 1382 by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor to both Edward III and Richard II, and the first 70 poor scholars entered the school in 1394. It was founded in conjunction with New College, Oxford, for which it was designed to act as a feeder: the buildings of both colleges were designed by master mason William Wynford. This double foundation was the model for Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, some 50 years later, and for Westminster School, Christ Church, Oxford, and Trinity College, Cambridge, in Tudor times.