A sales brochure for the sale of the former Girls’ Grammmar School on the High Street 1949.
Originally known as Mansion House before it became a school, it was built by Sir Francis Knollys in 1572 and he died there in 1629. Several members of the family continued living there until the 1700s.
The Oxford County School for Boys took over the house from 1840 to 1908 and then eventually it became the Thame Girls’ Grammar School in 1917. The building was demolished in 1965 by a fire, before a preservation order had been placed on it.
The auctioneers were E.P. Messenger & Son in conjunction with Burrows & Bradfield and the auction was at 3pm on the 1st March 1949 at the Spread Eagle Hotel. The 6-page brochure gives detailed descriptions of the accommodation, gymnasium & swimming bath in the first lot; the second lot being the playing field with a frontage to Windmill Road.
The plaque on the wall of the former Co-op supermarket, on the site of the Mansion House, was unveiled by the Girls’ Grammar School Guild in 1990 and gives a concise history of the building.
The brochure is on display in the Recent Donations case
The Mansion House will feature in the new exhibition in the museum,‘ Building Stories’ which opens on 28th March 2026.