Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I collected a ?lead (very heavy) wall crest/plaque from an ebay seller this morning. Felt it was important that this was bought by an Old Blue, so found a little cash to be able to purchase it.
(CLICK here or ON THE IMAGE for a bigger version)
(CLICK here or ON THE IMAGE for a bigger version)
It's 12.5 inches long, 11 inches wide, and 1.25inches deep (it's got a convex shape to it, concave on the back)
It weighs in at a hefty 10lbs (5kg)

Keen now to find out the history of the plaque?
The seller believed that they may have been used to mark buildings in London which CH owned?

ebay seller wrote:I'm told by an ex-pupil that the school used these plaques outside buildings which were not necessarily for school use, but simply to denote that the school owned them.

Anyone got any ideas - would love to be able to find the history, confirm what it's made of, and hence work out how to care for it and clean it (there's a couple of marks on it)

Any input/ideas welcome...

Cheers,

J

The buildings in London owned by CH often have the crest above the doorways in plaster of something I've never seen a plaque like that before except in the museum, (at least the former counting house has its crest above the door, now a great pub in the city called the Hung Drawn and Quartered) I would say contact the museum to find out but I doubt you'd recieve help from there, if you wait until July I might be able to go down there and find out for you.

That would excellent if you can find out any information down there.

J

When we were on our squits (or maybe a little later) Julian they were selling these off by the job lot, together with defunct settles. My parents have just foisted a plaque on me, for which I'm currently looking for a good home for in the house.

The settle, on the other hand, is amazingly useful...

Oh. and the plaques are cast iron - hence the weight

so come on then - how much d'ya pay for it?

I wonder if they have got any settles left - I would dearly love one!!

Settles were the old-style desks, yes??
I'd love one of those too - they had the CH letters down the sides didn't they?

Cast-iron sounds right - seems too solid for lead, and lead would have been an odd choice I guess.
They don't seem to rust though - wouldn't cast iron have rusted?

J

marty wrote:so come on then - how much d'ya pay for it?

Just what I was wondering!

Well I am really surprised Julian - you have got the settles quite wrong (tho they did sell off the desks too - a great pity as they were built to last 1000 years and, yes, they did have the CH crest in wrought iron down the side). No, settles were the iron boxes with wooden lids beside one's bed in the dormitory to stow ones bits in - other than the Housey coat which was hung on a hook above the bed. I have no settle by my bedside here at Cliffside and desperately need one to cope with the mounting pile of "things" on the floor by my bed. Old habits die hard and the stuff is still deposited where the settle should be but, alas, isn't.

Incidentally, the Big School bell was rung for 5 minutes just before 7:00 by the school segeant (Sergeant Usher in my time) whereupon one leapt to the end of one's bed for nose-blowing prior to prayers. Then a dash to the lav ends and out again to fold sheets and housey blanket and "arch" the mattress upon the bed boards. Fall in for breakfast parade outside the side door of the house (unless one was on early trades) and march up to dining hall for kippers (or whatever), kiff, (in kiff bowls) and bread and marmalade.

Back to the house to make the bed (proper "Housey Corners" required) and queue for the bogs. What an invigorating start to the day!

Regarding price - I'm not telling, other than to say it wasn't anything like the initial price on ebay. There were no bids on that, and I came to a mutually suitable price with the seller - she made a profit, and I paid a reasonable price.

Regarding the settles - we didn't have those in my day in Leigh Hunt, but what you describe rings a bell - sure I saw them around somewhere at CH in my day.

Arching matresses? Now that's brought back a forgotten memory! THink it was once a week we had to do that....

J

PS - Anyone know where a desk can be found??

jtaylor wrote:Regarding the settles - we didn't have those in my day in Leigh Hunt, but what you describe rings a bell - sure I saw them around somewhere at CH in my day.

You wouldn't have had them in Leigh Hunt as LHA&B never had them. When these houses were converted from "Prep" they put wooden cabinets instead of settles. They were the only houses not to have settles.

None of the houses have settles now, although the scouts still have some.

I want one!

Bagnaj97 wrote:None of the houses have settles now, although the scouts still have some.

The scouts still had loads about a year ago!

Going back to the original plaque - there were quite a few of these on buildings owned by CH but outside the Ring Fence - some of the houses down Two Mile Ash etc... most were painted though...