Oxford Inscriptions: John Combes’s School
This Parrish School house was
Built in the year of Our Lord 1702
and in the first year of the Reigne
of QUEEN ANN at the Charge of
MR JOHN COOMBES Cityzen and
Plaisterer of London, Borne in
This Parrish and free of this City,
for the Benefit of as many Poor
Children as the rent of this house
will Pay for their teaching to read
and write, the teacher to be ye Clerk
of this parrish (if duely qualified),
But if not, the teacher as well
as the children to be Elected by
the Churchwardens and
Overseers of the Poor and such
Elders as have executed both
those offices in this Parrish
with the assistance of the
minister.
This plaque is at first-floor level on the front wall of John Combes’ School (right), which is in St Thomas’s churchyard.
In 1839, a boys’ school was built by public subscription next to John Combes’s house, so there were now two schools.
For more information about this school, see David Clark and Diana Wood, “Changes through time: John Combes’s charity school, its architecture, function, and history”, Oxoniensia LXXII (2007), pp. 19–36.
Combe House is a Grade II listed building (List Entry 1343630)