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There are few more ancient places in the county than this small town, once the capital of Mercia the seat of King Penda, and now famous as the home of one of England's oldest public schools.
The first monastery was founded here in AD 653, This was overrun by the invading Danes two centuries later but some 100 years after that, about 975, a new church was built - St Wystan's. This is the church that can be seen today, much enlarged in the 13th-15th centuries, when it was given its 212ft high spire, but which still includes part of the original building. The tiny crypt about the size of an average living-room, is among the limited number of survivals of Anglo-Saxon architecture, a priceless heritage almost 1,000 years old.
The crypt has been called the most perfect specimen of Saxon architecture on a small scale that can be seen today, certainly it is one of the rarest corners of England. Only 17 feet square, it has a vaulted roof with small round arches resting on four spirally wreathed pillars, and eight half pillars on the walls.
Modern windows have been put in to show it clearer for us. There are still traces of an old altar, and an opening in the western wall is believed to have been a peephole in bygone days through which the shrine could be seen from above.
The crypt was desecrated at the Dissolution and forgotten until the end of the 18th century, when a man fell into it whilst digging a grave. Near an entrance to it from the outside, made for the use of the priory, is a holy-water stoup.
Near the church in the 12th century was founded the priory which fell into ruin after the Dissolution. These ruins were eventually, in 1556 incorporated into Repton School by its founder Sir John Port. Today the original arched gateway stands intact and parts of the priory buildings can also be seen, the 15th century Prior Overton's tower is now part of the headmaster's house.
There is a museum in the cellars of the school, showing the history of both the village and the school, and which can be viewed by appointment.
The Priory Guest House, with an old sundial over the doorway, is opposite the east end of St Wystan's church, and, though much altered, has still fine beams and massive Norman pillars. The upper part of it is now the library, where roundels of modern glass tell the story of St Guthlac. The whole of the basement of the Guest House was the cellarium, and is the only part remaining of the 12th century monastery.
Here there were originally six Norman pillars, two of which still remain in a small room, and two in the part of it used now as the school museum, with ancient tiles in the walls found in the old tile kiln years ago.
The great tithe barn of stone and timber stands by the roadside where the wide 14th century priory gatehouse makes a delightful entrance. On the site of the old priory church a spacious hall was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield in 1886 in memory of Dr Steuart Pears, under whose rule this grammar school became in 20 years one of the great public schools of the country.
The hall has a fine hammer-beam roof, oak-panelled walls, and great windows filling it with light.
The broad main street runs southwards from the church and school to the market cross, a column mounted on a base of octagonal steps and topped by a stone ball. Attractive town houses line the road, some timber-framed, others in Georgian red-brick. Easton House, just off the High Street, was built in 1907 for a housemaster by Sir Edwin Lutyens who designed the fountains in London's Trafalgar Square.
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