St. Edward's School, Cheltenham

The school site, Charlton Park, was a hunting lodge that belonged to Edward the Confessor (1003–1066), the only English monarch to have been canonised. The manor of Cheltenham which included Charlton was royal property – hence the local area's name, Charlton Kings – and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Later the property was owned by a succession of families, and the original medieval manor house, known as Forden House, was rebuilt several times. It now is substantially as it was in the 18th century, though incorporating 16th-century beams and brickwork. In 1935 the property was acquired by a religious order, the Sisters of La Sainte Union, originally from France, who established…