Source Description:

Title: St. Paul's School   
Artist: Shepherd, Thomas
Engraver / Plate Maker: Deeble, William
Size: 5.75" x 3.5"
Print Date: 1827

There has been a Cathedral School at St. Paul's since the 12th century, possibly earlier. The present School was founded in 1509 and was originally situated on a plot of land in the Cathedral Churchyard. It was destroyed along with the Cathedral and many other buildings in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was rebuilt in 1670, but in the early 19th century a new school was deemed necessary, this was opened in Cheapside, to the north of the Cathedral in 1824. This is the building shown on both the plate and the engraving. In 1884 the School transferred to new buildings in Hammersmith, West London which it occupied until the outbreak of WW2 in 1939, the School being evacuated to Easthamstead Park a large Victorian mansion situated near Bracknell in Berkshire. The School buildings in Hammersmith were taken over by the XXI Army Group for the duration of the war, it was here that the plans for D Day and the Invasion of Europe were made. The School moved to its present site on the southern bank of the Thames in Barnes S.W. London in 1968.

Description:

An indented earthenware plate printed in dark blue with the pattern name St. Paul's School London, based on the the engraved print shown below.