CHULMLEIGH - BOARDERS AT ROCK HILL ACADEMY  IN 1901

By 1901, Rock Hill Girls' School had become Rock Hill Academy, and was a well-established boarding and day school for girls. Annie Brooks was no longer connected with the girls' school having married John Powlesland in 1894 - it was he who later took over the Boys' School from her father, John Walling Brooks. Annie's sisters, Amelia (29) and Florence (25) were now joint Principals assisted by three governesses. Their sister Mary Elizabeth ("Bessie") Fear aged 35  together with her daughter Gladys (8) was also living in the school and acting as housekeeper.

The Brook family's girls' school continued for many years after the start of the 20th century but not all of its remaining history relates to Chulmleigh. It eventually moved to Wellesley Park in Wellington, Somerset, where it was known as the Blackdown School. The buildings there are now used by the Abbeyfield Society as retirement flats.

From an educational brochure of the 1950s

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