Bulmershe Court

Last updated

Bulmershe Court University of Reading, Bulmershe Court. - geograph.org.uk - 2806.jpg
Bulmershe Court

Bulmershe Court was a campus of the University of Reading, situated in what is now the Reading suburb of Woodley, in the English county of Berkshire.

Contents

Historically, Bulmershe Court has been the name of a manor and of two quite distinct country houses, one of which still stands but is now known as Bulmershe Manor. The site first opened for teaching in 1964 as Bulmershe College. That merged with the University of Reading in 1989 to create the Bulmershe Court campus. It closed in 2012 and all its activities were moved to either the London Road Campus or Whiteknights Park. In December 2013, the site was acquired for a residential development.

Campus

Academic profile

Bulmershe College became the Bulmershe Court Campus of the University of Reading in 1989, housing its Faculty of Education (later Institute of Education) and Community Studies (later School of Health and Social Care). [1] It continued to offer courses in education, community studies, social work, and film, theatre and television studies until 2011/12.

Buildings

Original buildings were retained and updated, including a £1 million refurbishment of the existing Bob Kayley Studio building (named after the first Head of Film and Drama at Bulmershe College) into a fully fitted 90 seater theatre also open to the public.

The former Bridges Hall space was converted into a lecture theatre, and several new student halls of residence were built on the site as part of Bulmershe Hall.

The campus was made up of many different buildings, some of those being accommodation retained from the original Bulmershe College – including Mitford, Penn, Winchcombe and Blagrave – and some newly built on merger with the university, including Hollins and Huntley. One of the original halls continued to bear the name Blagrave in testament to the long history of buildings on the site.

The refurbished Bob Kayley Studio (referred to above) saw its last performance in December 2010. Courses in Film and Drama Studies were being moved to the main Whiteknights campus and to a new purpose-built home – the Minghella Building – named after the late film director Anthony Minghella, who was made an Honorary Professor of the university in 2006 before his death.

Closure

Financial pressures faced by the University of Reading after the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–8, and the usual university re-organisations, meant that from 2010 there had been uncertainty about the fate of accommodation and teaching on the campus. With the end of teaching and most accommodation in 2011 the university set about redeveloping the site for housing and an old peoples' care home. The Library was moved to Whiteknights.

Social work programmes ended in September 2011. Courses were transferred to the University of West London (formerly Thames Valley University), who operate them from a Reading site in Crescent Road (previously the home of the Reading College of Technology). [2]

All activity on the Bulmershe Campus ended in 2012 apart from use of the playing fields. Institute of Education courses were relocated to completely refurbished University buildings based at London Road campus in 2012. By 2013, all education activity has ceased and some buildings yet to be demolished were offered for temporary commercial rental. [3]

Re-development

The re-development of the grounds had to take into account of the listed nature of the old Bulmershe Court manor building.

University plans changed again and on 23 December 2013, Cala Homes acquired the site for a residential development of 290 dwellings. [4] The newer halls will be converted to residential flats. Much of the rest will be demolished. On 25 December 2013 Bulmershe Court hall of residence burnt down and later demolished. [5] As of October 2017, the site was still being developed.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reading, Berkshire</span> Town and borough in Berkshire, England

Reading is a town and borough in Berkshire, England. Most of its built-up area lies within the Borough of Reading, although some outer suburbs are parts of neighbouring local authority areas. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet, Reading is 40 miles (64 km) east of Swindon, 28 miles (45 km) south of Oxford, 40 miles (64 km) west of London and 16 miles (26 km) north of Basingstoke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earley</span> Town in Berkshire, England

Earley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Along with the neighbouring town of Woodley, the Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area; for the purposes of local government it falls within the Borough of Wokingham, outside the area of Reading Borough Council. Its name is sometimes spelt Erleigh or Erlegh and consists of a number of smaller areas, including Maiden Erlegh and Lower Earley, and lies some 3 miles (5 km) south and east of the centre of Reading, and some 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Wokingham. It had a population of 32,036 at the 2011 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Reading</span> University in Berkshire, England

The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 1926 by royal charter from King George V and was the only university to receive such a charter between the two world wars. The university is usually categorised as a red brick university, reflecting its original foundation in the 19th century.

The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and Reading, Berkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilehurst</span> Suburb of Reading, Berkshire, England

Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies to the west of the centre of Reading; it extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath Spa University</span> Public university in Bath, England

Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodley, Berkshire</span> Town and civil parish in Berkshire, England

Woodley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, in Berkshire, England. Woodley is 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Reading and adjoined to Earley which is 2 miles (3.2 km) to the west of the town and Woodley is 5 miles (8 km) from Wokingham. Nearby are the villages of Sonning, Twyford, Winnersh, Hurst and Charvil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Exeter Halls of Residence</span>

The University of Exeter offers approximately 6,500 purpose-built student bed spaces for its students. The majority of its residences are located on campus, although 30% of self-catered accommodations are located off-campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southcote, Berkshire</span> Human settlement in England

Southcote is a suburb of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Located to the south-west of Reading town centre, Southcote has a population of about 8,500. The settlement lies primarily between the London-to-Bath road and the River Kennet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wantage Hall</span> Hall of residence in Berkshire, England

Wantage Hall, built 1908, is the oldest hall of residence at the University of Reading, in Reading, England. The hall is one of 13 belonging to the University and is close to Whiteknights Campus. It is designated a grade II listed building, a status given for its special architectural or historic interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whiteknights Park</span> Main campus of the University of Reading, Reading, UK

Whiteknights Park, or the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, is the principal campus of that university. The park covers the area of the manor of Earley Whiteknights, also known as Earley St Nicholas and Earley Regis.

The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shinfield</span> Village and civil parish in Berkshire, England

Shinfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. It lies just south of Reading, around 3 miles (4.8 km) from the town centre, and covers an area of 4,313 acres (17.45 km2). Shinfield Park is the northern part of the parish, becoming physically separated from Reading when the M4 motorway was constructed in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Road Campus</span> Campus of the University of Reading

London Road Campus of the University of Reading is the original campus of that university. It is on the London Road, immediately to the south of Reading town centre in the English county of Berkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calcot Park</span> Country house and golf club in Berkshire, England

Calcot Park is a country house, estate, and golf club in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated between Calcot and Tilehurst, suburbs of the town of Reading, and within the civil parish of Tilehurst. It is north of the Bath Road.

Redlands Primary School is a primary school in Reading, Berkshire, England. Located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of the centre of Reading, it located near to the University of Reading's Whiteknights Campus.

William Macbride Childs (1869–1939) was an English academic administrator and historian, who was involved in the foundation of the University of Reading and who served briefly as its first vice-chancellor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulmershe College</span> Further education school in Reading, Berkshire, England

Bulmershe College was an education institution in the Reading suburb of Woodley, in the English county of Berkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Reading, Berkshire</span>

The following is a timeline of the history of Reading, the county town of Berkshire in England.

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to your community".
  2. ↑ "Bulmershe redevelopment plans given the go-ahead".
  3. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ↑ Proposed new homes at Bulmershe campus. Archived page. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  5. ↑ Fire damages at former Reading University halls Bulmershe Court, BBC News (25 December 2013). Retrieved 19 November 2024.

51°26′59.24″N0°55′22.86″W / 51.4497889°N 0.9230167°W / 51.4497889; -0.9230167

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.