IN response to a question in the Watford Observer on February 25, about the Priory in Kings Langley, Heather Thomas, a teacher and former pupil at the school, wrote in: "Maybe I can throw some light on a small part of its history, as I was a pupil there from 1941. The school was founded on the site of the royal palace.

"The royal palace at Kings Langley was established in the 13th Century by Queen Eleanor of Castile (the first wife of Edward I) but it wasn't until the next century that the Dominican Friary was built, to the north of the palace at the top of Langley Hill. Today, all that remains of the great Friary church and other buildings is what is now misleadingly called The Priory. The building, which is now part of the Rudolf Steiner School, has been used as a school since 1908.

"Miss Cross and Miss Clark established the first school in the Priory building on the site of the royal palace. It was a boarding school for boys and girls and run along Montessori principles.

"After purchasing the Priory, the two ladies set about arranging for the necessary building work and extensions required to accommodate the new school.

"They selected an important architectural firm, Parker and Unwin, to enlarge the friary buildings, restore them and create an interesting pair of houses attached to the north-east and south-east sides of the original range.

"This work was carried out between June and November 1910. Parker and Unwin were also responsible for the design of the first garden city at Letchworth in 1903 and also for Hampstead Garden Suburb. Their work at Kings Langley is an excellent example of their high quality, simple but striking designs in the Arts and Crafts idiom.

"In the early 1920's, Miss Cross became interested in the educational principles being developed in Germany by Rudolf Steiner, and decided that Coombe Hill School, as it was then called, should become a Steiner school.

"In April 1922 while on a visit to Britain, Rudolf Steiner himself came to visit the school and gave his backing to the new venture. To quote from the school prospectus of autumn 1922: 'it is felt that the time has come to attempt a re-evaluation of our aims in education. This will involve the realisation of the fact that the educative process in all its aspects physical no less than intellectual and moral is fundamentally spiritual, and demands an insight into human nature and its successive stages of development'. Recast those words into a more modern idiom and they could stand as a neat summary of what the Rudolf Steiner School, Kings Langley, aims to achieve today.

"In 1941, my three cousins and I were sent as termly boarders to the school founded by Miss Cross and Miss Clark, as two of us had reached the age of six and were obliged to attend school. Our families lived in Surrey, but as it was the nearest Steiner school at that time off we went.

"For us boarders, life was pretty spartan, especially for the girls who were in the direct care of Miss Margaret Cross and her helper, Miss Burton. Cold baths every morning, summer and winter, no heating except the AGA stove in the kitchen no using the electric lights in our dormitory, 'waste of money on children', which meant that in the dark winter mornings we'd often arrive in school with clothes on back to front, or inside out, and our hair not exactly looking at its best. The boys had it a bit easier as my aunt was looking after them.

"Going to the toilet at night meant a terrifying trek through huge, dark rooms with their massive oak beams, down a stone staircase, past a sort of lab where Miss Cross kept bottled snakes (dead of course) and other weird specimens, and finally to the cloakroom where the day-girls would also hang their coats on school days. Without a torch it needed a lot of courage for any of us to make that journey and some didn't manage it they just wet the bed.

"We had to do most of the cleaning, washing up after school dinners, a substantial and regular amount of gardening (weeding), shelling and preparing the nuts for the Sunday nutmeat lunch (our favourite meal), cleaning the cutlery (not stainless steel) etc, and had to go for a walk every Wednesday afternoon, as school finished at 1pm. We had Saturday morning school instead. As far as I remember we had very little free time and were never allowed further afield than about halfway down the drive. We were kept busy doing the seasonal jobs including haymaking in the summer, which we enjoyed even though we'd be out there all day, however hot it was.

"Miss Cross kept quite a number of animals such as cows, a donkey, chickens, ducks, goats, cats and dogs and we loved these animals although we were not really allowed to look after them. But when the fresh milk came in from the cows it would be placed in terrines on the kitchen table, so that the cats could lick off the cream. We had what was left.

"The food we had all vegetarian was small in quantity but excellent in quality about all of it 'home' produced. Miss Cross also had fruit trees and soft fruit, such as gooseberries, red and black currants and she kept bees (looking after them herself). Where the horses' field and car park now are there was a large cherry orchard with white and black cherries. We never minded the job of having to pick them.

"Fairly near the back porch was a craft shed, which had a veranda to it and where we would have our school dinners in the summer. One day, when my cousin had gone inside to get something, the dear old donkey wandered over, sniffed at the unattended dinner and proceeded to eat it encouraged by us of course, as it provided high entertainment value.

"Although our food was of the best quality we had very little of it and were often rather hungry. So, finding where Miss Cross kept the sacks of cattle cake, we often raided the granary and found the 'cakes' quite delicious. We didn't think the cows would mind.

"When Miss Cross decided to have a school based on the principles of Rudolf Steiner she asked for a teacher with the necessary background. Miss Juliet Compton Burnett (sister of Ivy Compton Burnett the authoress) then came to Kings Langley Priory to take the first class of children to be taught by these different methods and out of a philosophy given by Rudolf Steiner. It was a small class consisting of my cousin, one or two other six-year-olds and myself, but the school had begun. Miss Judy, as we called Juliet Compton Burnett, was later joined by another sister, Vera Compton Burnett. Both these ladies had studied Steiner methods and eurythmy in Germany, and knew Rudolf Steiner.

"Although, from time to time, we were very homesick, we were happy to be in lessons as these were the best part of our days. In spite of this situation we must not forget what a sacrifice our parents had to make, always trying to get things to improve not only for the boarders but for the school generally and looking back we feel only gratitude that they persevered so that a Steiner school could be founded.

"Of course there is a great deal that happened between the Priory days and how and where the school is now, but that is another long chapter in the life and development of our school.

"In 1976, after several years of studying various subjects, I came back as a teacher to take on my own class for eight years and have been teaching here ever since. Today, the Priory is used to accommodate five teachers and their families and also has a chapel for the Christian Community.

"The Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley has grown in size since my school days, and now has almost 400 students ranging in age from three-and-a-half (Kindergarten) to 19 (Sixth Form).

"As a final word I would like to give a proper acknowledgment to Miss Margaret Cross who was one of the most forward-looking educationists of her time and a very cultured woman. Apart from managing the farm animals, and looking after the whole biodynamic (organic) growing of various crops, she also taught French and Latin and no doubt other subjects too. It is her initiative and impulse to look at agriculture and education in a new way that Rudolf Steiner came to Kings Langley in 1922."