J. S. Barnes, Esq., at £540, for Mr. William Sharman, who, we understand, intends converting the premises into a carriage manufactory" (Essex Standard, May 6th, 1853). The old building was "closed for academical purposes" on June 17th, the headmaster living at that time at Hill House, St. Leonard's, Colchester.
The new buildings on the London road were publicly opened on August 4th, 1853, when Dr. Wright received the key from Charles Gray Round. A procession, accompanied by a band, and including the Mayor (Francis Smythies) and the two Members of Parliament for Colchester (Lord John Manners and W. W. Hawkins), went from the Town Hall to the School, where a service was held. It was agreed that the new School was a great improvement upon the "old, malformed and dilapidated" and "unworthy and unseemly" house which had served for 300 years. The company present was afterwards regaled with an "elegant cold collation" at the "Three Cups" (Essex Standard, August 5th, 1853; see also Illustrated London News).
The buildings, which form a part of the present School, cost some £3,500 to build. They are in red brick, with dressings and quoins of Bath stone, and were described as being in "the late Tudor style" of architecture. This block then consisted of a schoolroom (41ft. by 21ft. 6in., and 15ft. high), a class-room, a boarders' dining room, a day washing room, rooms for boarders, and the headmaster's house. The "play ground" to the south was originally half an acre in extent, but was enlarged in 1861, when Charles Gray Round presented another plot of one acre and twelve perches, also lying to the south, as is recorded on a tablet affixed to the west wall of the School House, immediately south of the old Big School. It is today hidden as a result of subsequent building. Here is the close of today with Creffield Road as its southern boundary. Gilberd House with its garden, now accommodating the swimming bath, was not added until the twentieth century.
Dr. Wright was an able and energetic man, and the School prospered under his care. The overall permissible number of scholars was increased to 80 in 1853, upon application to the Visitor, the Bishop of London. In 1865 the School was inspected by the Schools Enquiry Commission, which had been formed to enquire into the affairs of all schools not covered by the enquiry into the nine great public schools (1861) or the Popular Education Commission (1858). The enquiry was into "the management of the revenues of Public (i.e. 'public endowed ') Schools and also the system of education pursued " (Essex Standard, May 11th, 1865). At that time there were 53 scholars, of whom 17 were boarders, and the annual income from the endowment was reduced to £106 owing to expenditure on the new buildings.
The next master, the Rev. Charles Lawford Acland, was elected on December 15th, 1870, and held the post for 21 years. Although he was a stern disciplinarian, his name was affectionately recalled by all the Colcestrians who passed through the School in his time,
