The Royal Masonic School for Boys is an abandoned school located in town of Bushey in the East of England.
From 1798 charities were set up for clothing and educating sons of needy Freemasons. They originally provided education by sending them to schools near to their homes. A specific masonic boys’ school was set up at Wood Green in North London in 1857 following amalgamation of the charities in 1852
A new school was built in Bushey, Hertfordshire in 1903 and a Junior School was added on the other side of The Avenue in 1929. By 1939 there were 800 boys at the royal masonic school.Following a decline in pupil numbers the junior school closed in 1970. The property is now occupied by Bushey Academy. Numbers continued to fall, and the senior school closed in 1977. For a time, the buildings housed the United States International University (Europe). Both schools were commonly used for films (such as Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, Lucky Jim (twice), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and numerous TV shows) from the 1950s until recently. They have now been redeveloped as luxury housing.
The opening scenes of the children’s series, ‘Thunderbirds’ were filmed in the old science block’ (and also filmed at Wellington School.) The senior school and its grounds were used throughout the long running series of Judge John Deed starring Martin Shaw (employing much of the teaching block as the judges’s chambers) and ‘Big School’ for many of the in-court scenes). We prepared stunning photos of royal masonic school for boys in Bushey.
