Winterborne School

Winterborne School
Type:	Charity school Public school
Location:	England
First appearance:	The Devil of Winterborne
Appearances:	Ghosts of Winterborne

Winterborne School was a public school in England.

History

Winterborne was built by Sir Isaac Greatorex in 1764 as a charity school for the poor, but he got into debt and sold it, after which it was reopened as a minor public school that became one of prestige over the years. However, it was widely-believed that Greatorex had been forced to give up the school because of devil-worship and human sacrifice, as well as membership of a religious sect. He was hanged and buried beneath the gallows.

Whittaker, headmaster of the school for decades, revived Greatorex's cult with Gavin Purcell. Purcell later brought his nephew Christian into the cult following the deaths of Purcell's brother and sister-in-law and Greatorex possessed him. Whittaker and Purcell obeyed his every word. In 1994, Whittaker was persuaded by the governors to resign and Purcell took his place. In 1995, Greatorex planned to resurrect himself and killed Whittaker, who he saw as weak.

Whittaker's death attracted the attention of Liz Shaw at P.R.o.B.e. She got a confession for the murders of Whittaker and Luke Pendrell out of him, but later realised that they had been committed by Christian after he killed Barbara Taploe and kidnapped Andrew Powell. Liz and D.I. Burke managed to stop Christian from killing Andrew, but Christian leapt onto the motorway and vanished. (HOMEVID: The Devil of Winterborne)

Margaret Wyndham became headmistress of the school because of her sister Taploe's death. Andrew returned to school in a bid to overcome the tragic events surrounding the Greatorex cult, but became himself influenced by him. He killed Max Rosenberg and assisted in Greatorex's resurrection until Liz and Wyndham banished his spirit. Andrew decided to remain at the school. (HOMEVID: Ghosts of Winterborne)

Personnel

Whittaker was headmaster of the school for decades until he was persuaded to resign and Gavin Purcell took the office. Following Purcell's arrest, Barbara Taploe (the long-standing Head of History) was briefly acting-head before her death, (HOMEVID: The Devil of Winterborne) upon which her twin sister Margaret Wyndham became headmistress. (HOMEVID: Ghosts of Winterborne)

Students at the school included Luke Pendrell, Andrew Powell, Christian Purcell, (HOMEVID: The Devil of Winterborne) Ian Burgess and Max Rosenberg. (HOMEVID: Ghosts of Winterborne)