During the headmastership of Dr. Prior (1767–79) the number of boys attending the school had greatly increased; those who came from a distance used “to table,” that is, lodge, in the village. “For the better acomodation of boarders,” the governors of the school rented the Hall from Sir Robert Burdett, Bart., of Foremark, who had succeeded to it on the death of Mary Thacker, who died on January 8th, 1728. An order was issued by the governors, the Earls of Huntingdon and Chesterfield and W. Cotton, on the 31st day of August, 1768, that the Hall “should be considered in all points as the master’s house, the rent and all other expenses attending it being defrayed by the Corporation”; from that date the Hall has been the residence of the headmasters of Repton School. Originally it consisted of an isolated brick tower, two storeys high, with hexagonal turrets in the upper storey, and was built by Prior Overton in the reign of Henry VI. (1422–61). When the Thackers obtained possession of it, they added to it at various dates. The lower storey of the tower, now used as the kitchen, has a fine oak ceiling, divided into nine square compartments by oak beams; at the intersections there are four carved bosses, bearing (1) a name device or rebus of Prior Overton, a tun or cask encircled by the letter O, formed by a vine branch with leaves and grapes; (2) a capital T ornamented with leaves; (3) an S similarly ornamented; (4) a sheep encircled like No. 1. The oaken staircase is lit by a stained-glass window, with the armorial bearings of the founder and three hereditary governors, the Earls of Huntingdon and Chesterfield, and Sir John Gerard. With varied fortune the school continued till Dr. Pears was appointed headmaster in the year 1854, when there were only forty-eight boys in the school! The numbers rose rapidly, and other houses had to be built. The tercentenary of the school, held in 1857, proved to be a fresh starting point in its history. On August 11th of that year, the late Honourable George Denman presided over a meeting of Old Reptonians and others. Speeches were delivered, and a sermon was preached by the late Dr. Vaughan, headmaster of Harrow School. As a lasting memorial of the day, it was proposed that a school chapel should be erected; hitherto the school had worshipped in the parish church. A liberal response was made to the appeal, and in the year 1858 Earl Howe laid the foundation stone. Since that time it has been enlarged no less than four times to accommodate the number of boys, which now exceeds three hundred. From 1860 to 1885 seven school houses have been built, additional form rooms and playing fields have been added, and crowning them all is the Pears Hall, which bears the following inscription:— IN HONOREM PRÆCEPTORIS OPTIMI STEUART ADOLPHI PEARS S.T.P. SCHOLÆ REPANDUNENSI PROPE VIGINTI ANNOS PRÆPOSITI