Wrekin College

Wrekin College is a private co-educational boarding and day school located in Wellington, Shropshire, England. It was founded by Sir John Bayley in 1880. It is now co-located with a preparatory school, The Old Hall School, founded by 1835. The two schools merged their governance and formed one trust in 2007.

Part of the Allied Schools, it is also a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

Wrekin College
The school was founded in 1880 as Wellington College by Sir John Bayley.

In 1915 less than 100 acres (0.40 km2) of the Lilleshall Hall estate were purchased from the Duke of Sutherland, who retained the Hall and 50 acres (200,000 m2).

In 1920, it was sold to the Revd Percy Warrington, a Church of England clergyman and renamed Wrekin College. The Rev. Canon Guy Pentreath was a notable headmaster from 1943 to 1952.

Girls were introduced to the sixth form by headmaster Geoffrey Hadden in 1975. It became fully co-educational in the year 1983. There are currently approximately 560 pupils including a number of international boarders. The school admits pupils from the age of eleven.

The Old Hall School
The Old Hall Preparatory School was founded in 1835 by Dr J.E. (Joseph Edward)  Cranage, providing originally for the education of boys only, being described in 1891 as:"one of the most widely known and popular educational establishments for gentlemen's sons in the Midlands"In founding the school, Cranage was inspired by the example of Thomas Arnold at Rugby School, he was aged just nineteen years at the time but had already completed an MA and PhD.

It operated for its first 160 years from a building understood to have been constructed in the 1400s. A chapel was added as a war memorial in 1922. That chapel has since been converted into a residence, but the memorial tablets were moved to the Wrekin College chapel.

Pupils of the school included Crown Princes of India, and David Morrieson Panton.

The writer Bruce Chatwin attended the school, The London Review of Books published The Seventh Day, practically the last story Bruce Chatwin wrote. The semi-autobiographical account of a “nervous and skinny boy with thick fair hair” who hated boarding school so much he developed a near fatal bout of constipation, the tale was largely based on the writer’s own experiences at The Old Hall.

The Old Hall appointed Ms Anna Karacan as headteacher in 2022, the first woman to hold the role in 188 years of the school to that point.

Merger of the Old Hall and Wrekin trusts.
In 2006, the trust was merged with that of The Old Hall Preparatory School (founded 1845), which moved from its original site on Limekiln Lane to the site of Wrekin College.

The resulting trust is called The Wrekin Old Hall Trust.

Wrekin College

 * 2023- : Toby Spence
 * 2016-2023: Tim Firth
 * 1998-2011: Stephen Drew
 * Pre 1998

The Old Hall School

 * 2022- : Anna Karacan
 * 2007-2022: Martin Stott
 * Ronald Ward
 * Peter Worthington
 * Pre-1980s

Sports
In 2023 Wrekin was named as one of The Cricketer’s Top 100 cricketing schools in the country and in 2022 both the Under 16 and Under 13 rugby teams were named county champions.

Cocurricular
A music school was opened in 2020 costing over £2m.

Flags
Wrekin college has a blue flag with a rampant lion and "Wrekin" written on it. It is unclear if the Old Hall has a its own flag.

Coats of arms
Wrekin college has been granted a coat of arms. The Old Hall School also has a coat of arms.

Royal visit
Queen Elizabeth II visited Wrekin on Friday 17 March 1967, having opened Shire Hall in Shrewsbury earlier that day. The Headmaster, Robert Dahl (Headmaster. 1952-71), greeted the Queen, and in his study presented a specially bound copy of B.C.W Johnson’s A Brief History of Wrekin College, whilst Head of School, David Franklin (W. 1961-67) was given the honour of presenting a cricket bat for her sons.

Old Wrekinian Association
In 1907 the Old Wrekinian Association (OWA) was created by 14 past pupils, it now has almost 6000 members. The purpose of the OWA is to help past students keep in touch with one another and the school. The OWA Record magazine is published twice a year.

Notable alumni

 * William Dyas (1872-1940), first-class cricketer
 * Sir Albert Howard (1873-1947), English botanist and pioneer of organic agriculture
 * Rupert Croft-Cooke MBE (1904–79), novelist and autobiographer
 * Harry Andrews (1911–1989), British stage and film actor
 * James Forbes Blythe T.D. (1917-2018) Circuit Judge
 * William R. P. George (1912–2006), Welsh poet
 * Sir Peter Gadsden (1929–2006), former Lord Mayor of London (1979), businessman
 * Brian Epstein (1934–1967), music entrepreneur and manager of The Beatles
 * Peter Inge, Baron Inge KG, GCB, PC, DL (1935–2022), former Chief of Defence Staff
 * Guy N. Smith (1939-2020), writer mainly of horror and science fiction
 * Malcolm Bruce, Baron Bruce (1944- ), former Liberal Democrat MP
 * Bob Warman (1948 – ), television presenter
 * Ian Blair, Baron Blair (1953 – ), Metropolitan Police Commissioner (2005–2008)
 * Brothers Barry (1955- ) and Bryan Jones (1961- ), cricketers
 * Peter Chelsom (1956- ), film director
 * John Charles Price, Circuit Judge
 * Christopher Blagden (1971- ), former British alpine skier who competed at the Albertville Winter Olympic Games, 1992