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In the School’s earliest days at New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, use had to be made of any public available space to
play football and cricket. Port Meadow was a favoured venue for both winter and summer sport and was well
remembered by Kenneth Grahame who attended the School 1868-1875. Years later he wrote the following:-
‘The sole advantage of Port Meadow as a cricket pitch was the absence of boundaries. If an ambitious and powerful slogger wanted
to hit the ball as far as Wolvercote, he could do so if he liked; there was nothing to stop him and the runs would be faithfully run out.
The chief drawback was that the City Burgesses used the Meadow for pasture of their cows – graminivorous animals of casual
habits. When fielding ‘deep’, and frequently cries of ‘Throw her up!’ reached one from the wicket, it was usually more discreet to feign
a twisted ankle or a sudden faintness, and allow some enthusiast to recover the ball from where it lay’.
It was not until 1870 when Algernon Simeon was appointed Headmaster, that more suitable arrangements were
made whereby the University grounds were leased near the railway station during their holidays. Later still in 1871
the School procured the use of the White House Ground beyond Folly Bridge