The Triennial: Celebrating 372 years in the City of London
When Merchant Taylors’ left the City of London in 1933, it ended a period of 372 years in the City. The Service of Thanksgiving and Commemoration at St Paul’s Cathedral last Friday celebrated the School’s connections with the City of London and acknowledged its long history and traditions.
Suffolk Lane was home to MTS from 1561 to 1875. The Merchant Taylors’ Company purchased a building called the Manor of the Rose which was later destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
The Rebuilding Act of 1667 ruled that ‘all the outsides of buildings be henceforth made of brick or stone’. Architect Robert Hooke designed the new school building, and for 314 years the School remained at this site until it was deemed too cramped and dilapidated.
Charterhouse Square, 1875-1933
When Charterhouse School moved to Surrey in 1866, the Merchant Taylors’ Company purchased its buildings which were extended and reopened as the new site of MTS on 6 April 1875. For the next 58 years, the School enjoyed its central location near the dome of St Paul’s and within the historic confines of the City.
Sandy Lodge, 1933-2024
There were mixed feelings when it was announced that the School would move to Sandy Lodge in 1933. Before the big move, a Service of Thanksgiving and Commemoration was held at St Paul’s Cathedral, attended by the Court of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, the whole School, parents and the boys.
At this service in May 1933, the Lord Bishop of Manchester (OMT 1883-1890) said,
‘For some of us there is sadness in the going. Old associations are hallowed things: the Great Hall, the cloisters. But go we must or we fail to tread the path of progress, fail to make the most of our opportunity. The school is not Suffolk Lane or Charterhouse Square, and it is the School that matters. So we meet today to say farewell to the old haunts within the City boundaries. We do not, intend to say goodbye to the city of London – we shall never do that; we are still a City school, we shall always be coming back’.
The Triennial Service at St Paul’s Cathedral
On 13 May 1952, another special service was held in St Paul’s Cathedral to remind the present members of the School of its origins. The Triennial Service is now held every three years to ensure that boys have the opportunity to attend at least once during their time at the School.
In 1952, coaches were hired to transport the School’s community to St Paul’s. In subsequent years, the School had the sole use of two special London Underground trains for the journey from Moor Park to Barbican. At the Barbican a police escort was provided to get the pupils safely to St Paul’s. The School doesn’t get its own private train anymore but there were not many spare seats on the Metropolitan line at around 11:30am last Friday!
