A few weeks ago we took the opportunity to look round Harrow School. This is a public school in Harrow on the Hill near where we live. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon, a local landowner and farmer, under a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth I. Although it is a boarding school there are open days throughout the year.

Exploring the history of Harrow School

If you’ve ever wondered if it’s possible to visit Harrow School then let me tell you that you can! We booked tickets for the historic tour of Harrow School which takes place on four Saturdays during the year. We booked for our teens too, but on the day they didn’t want to join us, so my husband and I had a rare trip on our own!

Harrow School sits on top of Harrow on the Hill and feels like a little community. We arrived early so we could wander around before meeting our tour guide outside Old Schools, the original building of Harrow School.

Our first stop was round the corner to see the Victorian Speech Room which is the main assembly room and where the school meets every Monday morning. It features pantings of famous Harrovians such as Winston Churchill. I would love to hear the acoustics in this room and luckily it hosts concerts throughout the year.

Next we visited the war memorial before seeing some of the Victoria Crosses awarded to past students. Then it was on to The Alex Fitch Room, set up as a memorial to Alex Fitch who died in the First World War. The room features historic panelling and stained glass in memorial to Alex.

We crossed over the road to the Chapel, built even though St Mary’s Church is a stone’s throw away. Apparently there was some disagreement between one of the Headmasters of Harrow and the local vicar, even though at one point the vicar was the Headmaster. The Chapel is full of poignant memorials to students who have passed away, and is a pretty spot to visit.

We crossed back over the road to the Old Schools, the oldest part of Harrow School.

We loved our visit to the Fourth Form Room, Harrow School’s original class room. The wooden panels have been carved with the names of past students, this was a tradition (until they ran out of room). The room was also used to film one of the Harry Potter films!

Our tour lasted about 2 hours and was great experience as our guide was really interesting. It was lovely to finally see inside some of the historic buildings of Harrow School and learn a little about its history. I was surprised our tour lasted two hours but we were given plenty of time inside each historic building and had a very knowledgeable tour guide.

We enjoyed our tour and walked up to St Mary’s Church which is apparently the highest building in Middlesex and much loved by Byron when he was a pupil at Harrow.