18-740: Ashdown House may refer to: Ashdown House, East Sussex , an 18th-century country house in Forest Row, England, now a school Ashdown House, Oxfordshire , a 17th-century country house in Ashbury, England, belonging to the National Trust Ashdown House, a graduate residential house at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Topics referred to by
36-552: A Scotland-based correspondent for Newsweek magazine. He has won awards for foreign reporting, investigative journalism and food writing. He worked in Asia for Oxfam from 2001 to 2004. There he began writing about food cultures, poverty and food policy. Drawing on his own experience at three British boarding schools , Renton was presenter and reporter on a 2018 episode of the ITV current affairs programme Exposure titled "Boarding Schools,
54-704: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Ashdown House, East Sussex Ashdown House is a country house and former school near Forest Row , East Sussex , England , a Grade II* listed building . One of the first houses in England to be built in the Greek Revival architectural style, it was designed in 1793 as the second independent work of Benjamin Henry Latrobe , his last work in Britain before emigrating to
72-527: Is the author of several historical and investigative books, including Stiff Upper Lip: Secrets, Crimes and the Schooling of a Ruling Class (2017) and Blood Legacy: Reckoning With a Family's Story of Slavery (2021). Alexander James Torr Renton was born in Toronto , Canada, the oldest child of the politician Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry and the novelist and historian Alice Blanche Helen Fergusson. He
90-722: The Atlantic slave trade and plantation slavery in the Caribbean , was long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction in 2021. It was also short-listed for the History Prize in the Saltire Society 's literary awards, known as Scotland's National Book Awards , and British Academy Book Prize in 2022. The BBC Radio 4 series In Dark Corners produced by BBC Scotland and presented and co-written by Renton, won
108-549: The United States . Latrobe's domes at Ashdown have been described by scholars as 'miniature prototypes' for his domes at the United States Capitol . Described by Nikolaus Pevsner as 'very perfect indeed', the building served as a prep school from 1886 to 2020, educating many people, of whom several became notable. In August 2021 the property was sold to a property developer for £5 million. Richard Eden confirmed that
126-588: The British Broadcasting Press Guild 's Radio Programme of the Year award in 2023. In Dark Corners won best series and a further award at the 2023 Arias, the Radio Academy awards. In April 2023 he co-founded, with former BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan and others, Heirs of Slavery , a group of descendants of people who had profited from British transatlantic slavery and wanted to make amends in
144-583: The Secret Shame". In 2022, he co-wrote (with Caitlin Smith) and presented a BBC Radio 4 series, In Dark Corners , about abuse and cover-up at some of Britain's elite schools, including Eton College , Fettes College , Gordonstoun and its junior school. According to The Guardian in July 2022, since realising in 2013 that the teachers who abused him could still be abusing children, Renton started to speak out about
162-563: The abuse he suffered, and to support other victims with a book, articles, and radio and television programmes. He has said that many prestigious schools go to great lengths to protect their reputation rather than victims. Renton has said that boarding schools are "simply unsafe" until the law on safeguarding in residential institutions for the vulnerable is overhauled, and that his is the first in about seven generations of his family not to send their children to boarding school. Renton's book Blood Legacy , an account of his ancestors' involvement in
180-522: The form of reparations . Other members include Charles Gladstone, who is descended from prime minister William Gladstone , and David Lascelles , 8th Earl of Harewood . The group has called on the British Prime Minister and King Charles to make a formal apology on behalf of the United Kingdom. Renton is the author of several historical and investigative books, including: Renton married
198-478: The owner, Cothill Trust, had exchanged contracts with the developer, whose name was not disclosed. The next highest bidder was reportedly an educational establishment that offered the trust £4.5 million. Ashdown House was given its name by John Trayton Fuller upon his purchase of the site, by Act of Parliament, for £10,000 in 1793. The land had previously comprised the Manor of Lavertye, first recorded in 1285. In 1597, it
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#1732851428584216-423: The prep school of Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls . Allegations of physical and sexual abuse in the 1970s by multiple former pupils, investigated by law firm Slater & Gordon in 2013, were followed by widespread recollections from former pupils that the regime at the school in the late 20th century had been spartan and unforgiving, with boys or entire classes regularly punished with canings . Abuse at
234-423: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Ashdown House . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ashdown_House&oldid=1227429696 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
252-437: The school is much of the subject of former pupil Alex Renton 's book Stiff Upper Lip and his BBC Radio 4 documentary In Dark Corners , and is referred to in the memoirs of Andrew Mitchell . In July 2014, Clive Williams, who was headmaster from 1975 to 2003, was interviewed by Sussex Police following allegations of sexual assault and child neglect . A computer and documents were taken from his home for examination. He
270-526: Was educated at Ashdown House, East Sussex ; Eton College ; Brighton College ; and the University of Exeter , where he studied English. Since 2024, Renton has been a Visiting Fellow at Newcastle University . As a journalist Renton has held staff jobs as a reporter and editor on British newspapers The Independent and the London Evening Standard . He has been a columnist for The Times and
288-510: Was part of the Buckhurst estate, a house of brick and Horsham stone with "... several courtyards, gardens, orchards, closes, rooms, two old dwelling houses, and a great barn." The school was founded in Brighton in 1843 as a boys' school and moved to Ashdown House in 1886. It first became co-educational in 1975. The last headmaster, from September 2019 to June 2020, was Hilary Phillips, previously of
306-445: Was released on bail the same day, until 11 November, and was understood not to have been charged. The police said their investigation spanned the period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. In January 2023 David Price, 76, who had taught at the school in the 1980s, was charged with three counts of indecent assault in the 1980s and was due in court in the following month. He was arrested after an 11-page account detailing alleged abuse
324-425: Was submitted to Cape Town police by a former pupil of Western Province preparatory school in the city. The complainant came forward after claims were made against Price and other former teachers by Alex Renton. 51°06′09″N 0°03′46″E / 51.1025°N 0.0629°E / 51.1025; 0.0629 Alex Renton Alexander James Torr Renton FRHistS is a British journalist and broadcaster. He
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