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Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman
spoke fondly of the College, referring to:
"……..the unique
atmosphere of St. Michael’s College, Tenbury. I shall never
forget my first impression of the place. There was the climb up
from the little market town of Tenbury whence some of the lay
clerks make their twice daily journey to Mattins and Evensong to
lend men’s voices to the boys’ choir, and there before
me stretched an enormous common. In the far corner, in a land of
blossoming orchards and backed by the blue distance of Clee Hill,
rose a chapel, seemingly as large as Lancing. Attached to it were
Warden’s house, school buildings, cloister and dining hall,
all in a style of the fourteenth century, re-interpreted in local
materials for the nineteenth century by the genius of its
architect, Henry Woodyer. After Evensong, where the music was
equal to that of the best cathedral choirs, and a walk round the
buildings in the quiet of a Worcestershire evening, I visited the
large dormitory, which runs almost the whole length of a building
parallel with the chapel. Here Christopher Hassall read his poem*
to the boys and held them spellbound as the stars shone through
the narrow Gothic windows in the gabled
roof…………"
*(A poem was written especially for the
College's centenary Click
here)
This little gem was spotted in
the Sword, the current St Michael's Parish Magazine:
A Visit to St. Michael’s
in 1880.
Mrs. Ellen Heywood-Waddington read the following extract
in "The Transactions of the Worcestershire Naturalists Club
1847-1896" and thought it would be of
interest to everyone in St. Michael’s. Members of
the club went on the walk on Monday 25th October 1880 visiting
Easton, Little Hereford Church and finishing at St.
Michael’s College.
"The walk was
then resumed through a very pleasing country past Upton Court and by the Old
Wood to St. Michael’s College. This building, with its appurtenances, had
been stated in the programme to be inspected by the kind permission of the
Rev'd. Principal, Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley, Bart., and the reverend
gentleman most courteously appeared in person to
conduct the party over the college, and explain all
its arrangements.
The church in connection
with the college was first examined in detail. It is a cruciform structure in
the decorated pointed style, having a nave with aisles, transepts, chancel and
sanctuary, with a baptistery on the north side. many of the windows are filled
with subjects in stained glass, and the sanctuary has five lofty windows, in
which our Saviour, St. Michael, with drawn sword, and archangels
and angels are beautifully portrayed. The baptistery contains a font, over
which is a tall and most elaborate canopy, and next the wall is a well, the
water of which is of a medicinal character like that at Tenbury, and as Sir
Frederick observed, had they been living in mediaeval times, miraculous cures
might have been claimed for it. It is well known
that St. Michael’s College is a musical institution where pupils are
instructed, and with great kindness.
Sir F.Gore Ouseley himself favoured his visitors with a voluntary on the organ
in grand style, which gave a capital idea of the range of its harmonious
powers. The cloisters and rooms of the college were next contemplated, as well
as the great hall and library, and the company were also led upstairs to the
dormitories and other chambers to see all the
arrangements for the pupils. The iron horse conveyed the party from Tenbury to
Kidderminster, where dinner was served at the Black Horse Inn."
How SMC came into being
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The 2006 Reunion was the Centenary of the Society and 150 years since Ouseley
opened his college
For more details see here
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