Before the Raglan ….. White Cairn

Past and present students in the Raglan might be interested to know that fifty years ago, their House was in the middle of a major redevelopment!

For many years, the house which is now the Raglan was known by its previous name of White Cairn, sometimes run together as Whitecairn. It was built in the 1860s for an army officer named Horace Manners Monckton. His two sons attended Wellington as Day Boys (unusual in those days) in the 1870s. One of them, also named Horace, inherited the house when his father died in 1904 and lived there until his own death in 1931.

Sometime later the College acquired the house, but it stood empty and overgrown until 1970. Then, Estates and a working party of students and teachers embarked on clearing the ‘jungle’ around it and getting it fit for use. The Year Book of 1970 includes these photographs of the working party in action. Do any OWs remember taking part?

In September 1970, White Cairn opened as a ‘holding house’ to accommodate junior students who were awaiting a permanent place in a House or Dormitory. This closed in 1993 and White Cairn became staff accommodation. In 2007 it reopened as a boys’ day house and in 2009 changed its name to Raglan.