St. Thom Huell

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Background

St. Thom Huell is a boarding school^{[See notes]} in the town of Little Rosewater in the United Kingdom, predominantly catering to the middle and upper classes. It has an average student body of 1000 to 1200 and a notable annual student death rate and staff turnover rate. It is noted that generally very flimsy excuses are used to cover-up the deaths intentionally or not, often as "falling on pitchforks". Despite the weaknesses of these explanations Robert managed to believe them until very recently. However, his classmate Janet appeared to be aware of these occurences well before he realised it, perhaps indicating that more people know about it than one might have initially expected.

It presumably teaches students from First Years (Year Seven, 11-12) to Fifth Years (Year Eleven, 15-16), and includes a Sixth Form. It has a mild rivalry with the local state comprehensive, Greater Rosewater Comprehensive, and has a reputation for being stuck-up.

By the time Layla arrives the class size is 1112, already down from 1137. Last year's ending class was 1072, a number, according to Robert, "better than most years".

It is stated that typically 1/3 of the the students and faculty die a year. However Those who manage to last the few are typically able to last for a very long time. One such example is the librarian, Mr. Penrose, who has been at the school for at least 20 years.

The school's unnatural bad luck and extremely high monster population are a result of the Hellmouth found in the basement. Also located in the school's basement was a private library owned and maintained by Mr. Penrose, though officially part of the school library. This was later granted to an anonymous benefactor after Mr. Penrose's sudden disappearance in exchange for a sizeable grant for new library books.

The Saint

The school's patron, St. Thom Huell, is a Christian saint, of whom very little is known, including by the students. Despite him being the school patron apparently very little of the Saint was taught in Religious Education class or in school assemblies/activities.

In Episode 7, the group found instructions in a Golem's mouth that called St. Thom Huell "the evil saint", whose followers can only be killed by "beheading or wood through the heart" to be killed. These instructions were written in Old English. This implies that St. Thom Huell and/or his followers were vampires and potentially associated with the Hellmouth under the school.

From the circumstances concerning the Golem and the instructions, some further detail may be hypothesised about St. Thom Huell.

Firstly, the surname "Huell" is an Anglicised form of the Welsh name Hywel, similar to "Howell". This may indicate that St. Thom Huell originated from the British Isles or is related to the Kings of Gwynedd, many of whom were named Hywel. A Hywel also appears as a Saint and associated with King Arthur, but prior to the Norman invasion. The use of the Anglicanisation therefore potentially indicates that St. Thom Huell was canonised or active after the Norman invasions of England and Wales, though Gwynedd itself was only conquered under Edward I. Another prominent British Isles-originating saint with the name of Thomas is the famous St. Thomas Becket, who was killed in the reign of Henry II (d. 1170).

The aged instructions found in the Golem's mouth also help narrow down the activities of Huell or his followers. Though Mesopotamian in origin, the Golem was found in southern Syria; it is noted that it was reburied at some point. This and the Old English instructions in the Golem's mouth indicate that the Golem may have been active during the time of the Crusades. Thus, St. Thom Huell's followers must have been active then, and the Saint himself may have died recently.

It is not known who placed the instructions in the Golem's mouth, but use of English rather than French appears to make it more likely that those who inserted the instructions were not the ruling Anglo-Norman nobility, but instead lower-class English. The use of English indicates perhaps English sergeants who went with Richard I or Edward I to the Holy Land, but it could easily be knights. While the crusader states would not have made it to southern Syria, where the golem was reburied, English crusaders regardless of their class would have been in the area.

Of note is that contemporaneously, the Hospitallers of St Thomas of Canterbury at Acre were extant at the time, founded 1191, less than 20 years after his canonisation. This would have indicated a permanent English presence in the area for over a hundred years which may have placed the instructions in the Golem's mouth. Relatively capable, they resisted merging with the Knights Templar despite financial troubles with the assistance of Edward I.

Though no concrete dates were provided for the date the Golem was reburied, it is entirely possible, albeit somewhat unlikely, that it was moved several times after the instructions were placed in its mouth. Later English activity in the area would have included British activity in the Ottoman Empire during the Napoleonic Wars (in Acre in particular), and later during the British wars against Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. However, the English used would have been much closer to contemporary English.

People

Known Faculty

Teaching Staff

Mrs. Hypatia Brown (former) - Head of Sixth Form and a Deputy Head
Ms. Felicia Khan - Computer Science
Mr. Edward Miller (former) - Biology
Ms. Iris Redfern - History and Classics
Mr. Charles Woodbridge - Male PE and Rugby Coach
Ms. Charlotte Woodbridge - Female PE
Mr. Darkwood (joined after start of the year) - Biology
Ms. Vivian Durand - Media Studies
Mr. Ned Dewforth - Mathematics

Not-Appeared Teaching Staff

^{[See notes]}

Mr. Dermot Farris - Head Teacher
Mr. Lawrence Alexander - Physics

Administrative and Non-Teaching Staff

Mr. Peter Penrose (deceased) - Librarian
Mr. George Davidson (joined after start of the year) - Fire Safety Officer and Handyman
Lucien Leblanc - Handyman
Tom Whisker - Handyman (deceased)
Doris - School Nurse

St. Thom Huell Student Body

See St. Thom Huell Student Body for a complete list of appeared students

Notes

Though St. Thom Huell has been assumed to be a private school, and stated as such by GamingFTL in one of his Strange Adventures Campaign Vlogs, EnterElysium confirmed on the Roll4It Discord that STH is in fact a state school.
The Not-appeared Teaching Staff were discussed in an Aftershow, and may not be reliable.
Thom Huell is an anagram of "Hell Mouth".
It should be noted that there appears to be some kind of magical effect that has a hold over the general populace of the Rosewater area (especially the student body) that prevents them from seeing the truth behind the suspiciously high mortality rate occuring at St Thom Huell and the surrounding area.