A grand vision in the south Shropshire countryside: We visit the rural school founded by two first-class cricketers
It all began when two first-class cricketers and schoolmasters purchased a grand old house nestled within the rolling hills of south Shropshire and decided to found a school.
In 1964, Hugh Edmund Watts and Derek Henderson, who played for Somerset and Oxford University respectively, bought the Moor Park Estate near Ludlow, where they established Moor Park School.
With just nine boys and more staff than pupils in its first term, few could have imagined that six decades later the school would stand as one of the county’s leading independent prep schools - educating children from three months to 13 years old across 85 acres of unspoiled countryside.
Last year Moor Park celebrated its 60th anniversary with a series of events including a 1960s-style lunch and a glittering September ball attended by past pupils, parents, and teachers - all honouring the founding vision of Henderson and Watts.
But 2024 also marked another special milestone - the arrival of James Duffield as headmaster. His appointment represented a full-circle moment, as he was once a Moor Park pupil himself.
