Caerleon campus

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Caerleon campus
Caerleon Campus.jpg
TypeUniversity campus
Location Caerleon, Newport, Wales
Coordinates 51°37′00″N2°57′42″W / 51.6166°N 2.9618°W / 51.6166; -2.9618
Built1912–1914 with later additions
ArchitectAlfred Swash & Son
Architectural style(s) Edwardian Revival
OwnerPrivate
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameFormer Caerleon Teacher Training College Building
Designated2 March 2017
Reference no.87729
Listed Building – Grade II
Official namePrincipal's residence at the University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus
Designated2 March 2017
Reference no.87726
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameCaretaker's/Gardener's lodge at the University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus
Designated2 March 2017
Reference no.87727
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameGate piers at the University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus
Designated2 March 2017
Reference no.87728
Newport UK relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location of Caerleon campus in Newport

Caerleon campus stands near Lodge Hill, a ridge to the north of the town of Caerleon, on the outskirts of Newport, Wales. The site opened as a teacher training college in 1914. In the 1970s the campus became the Gwent College of Higher Education, before being incorporated as a satellite campus of the University of Wales, Newport. On further merger in 2013, it became part of the University of South Wales. In 2014 the university announced plans to close the campus at the end of the 2015/16 academic year and sell the site for redevelopment. To prevent demolition, the Welsh Government recommended the listing of certain buildings on the site, which was carried out by Cadw, the Welsh historic environment agency, in 2017. The main block and three ancillary buildings are now listed at Grade II. The sale of the site went ahead, and residential redevelopment was in progress at the end of 2024. The site was used for the filming of the Netflix television series Sex Education between 2019 and 2023 when it represented Moordale Secondary School.

Contents

History

The impetus for the establishment of the Caerleon campus came from the 1902 Education Act which abolished the existing School boards in England and Wales, replacing them with local education authorities administered by the county councils. In 1908 Monmouthshire County Council, [a] following discussion with neighboring authorities, proposed the establishment of two teacher training colleges, one in Barry for the training of female students, and one at Caerleon for the training of male students. The Caerleon campus site was purchased and in 1912 the foundation stone for the college was laid by Reginald McKenna, MP for North Monmouthshire and Home Secretary in the Liberal Government of the time. [1]

The architects for the new campus were Swash & Son of Newport. [2] Alfred Swash (1860–1939), trained as an architect in the firm of Habershon, Pite and Fawckner, establishing his own practice in 1888. In 1908 he was joined by his son, Frank Stanley. [3] Alfred served as mayor of Newport in 1916–17. [4] Frank Stanley (1885–1965) continued in practice after his father's death, retiring to Poole in Dorset where he died in 1965. [5]

The campus was subsequently renamed Caerleon College of Education, before merging with the Newport College of Art and Design and the Gwent College of Technology in 1975 to become the Gwent College of Higher Education. Further mergers saw academic control move to the University of Wales, Newport in 2004 and to the University of South Wales in 2013. [6] The following year the university announced its intention to close the Caerleon campus and to sell the site, effective from the autumn of 2016. [7] The campus was subsequently bought by Barratt Redrow for residential development. The university and the developers favoured the clearing of the site through demolition but, following a local campaign and political pressure, the main block and three ancillary buildings were protected through listed building status issued by Cadw in 2017. [8] [9] The site was sold on to Acorn Property in 2023 and development work on the estate, renamed Parc Y Coleg, continues as at January 2025. [10]

Between 2019 and 2023 the campus was used as a principal filming location for the Netflix television series Sex Education , when it represented Moordale Secondary School. [11] [12] [13]

Architecture and description

The main block at Caerleon campus is of three storeys with a central clock tower. The construction material is Old Red Sandstone with Bath stone ashlar dressings. Cadw describes the architectural style as "mixed Revival". Swash & Son's original plans were for a more elaborate building than was eventually constructed, with a larger central tower and more decoration in the stonework. [1] John Newman, in his Gwent/Monmouthshire volume in the Buildings of Wales series, describes the thirty-one-bay façade as "enormously long". [14] To either side of the main block are two pavilions, originally serving as the principal's and caretaker's houses. The principal's house was to a grander design than the porter's lodge. [15] Both were designed to frame, and conceal, the main façade until it could be viewed at close quarters. [15] [16] Entrance to the site is through a pair of gatepiers which flank a long drive. [17]

The college main block, the former principal's house, the caretaker's lodge and the gatepiers at the entrance to the site are all Grade II listed buildings. [1] [15] [16] [17] John Newman considered two later-20th century additions to be of particular interest; the Faculty of Art and Design, "a spectacular cascade of steel and glass", of 1982, and the Rathmell Building, "a huge, metal-clad asymmetrical curve", of 1995–97. [14] [b] Neither structure was listed by Cadw and both were demolished after 2016. [11] [18]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ At the time Caerleon was in the county of Monmouthshire but was transferred to the county borough of Newport in 1996.
  2. ↑ John Newman suggested that the Gwent County Council architects of the Art and Design Faculty were influenced by the contemporaneous Inmos microprocessor factory at Newport designed by Richard Rogers. [14]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Cadw. "Former Caerleon Teacher Training College Building (Grade II) (87729)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  2. ↑ "Caerleon Campus (606)". Coflein. RCAHMW . Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  3. ↑ "Swash, Alfred 1860 - 1939". Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Architects 1800-1950. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  4. ↑ "Alfred Swash, Mayor of Newport 1916 - 1917". Newport Past. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  5. ↑ "Swash, Frank Stanley 1885 - 1965". Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Architects 1800-1950. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  6. ↑ "Our History". University of South Wales . Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  7. ↑ "Campus Changes". University of South Wales. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  8. ↑ Thomas, Carys (1 June 2016). "Caerleon group write open letter to re-assess Caerleon campus' main building for listing". South Wales Argus . Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  9. ↑ Williams, Angharad (3 March 2017). "Historic Caerleon college campus given listed status by Cadw". South Wales Argus . Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "Tempus At Parc Y Coleg, Caerleon". Acorn Property Group. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  11. 1 2 Ridout, Joanne (5 November 2023). "Exclusive look inside Caerleon College that featured on Netflix's Sex Education that's now empty". Wales Online . Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  12. ↑ "Netflix's 'Sex Education' filming locations". Visit Monmouthshire. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  13. ↑ Medd, James (24 June 2021). "Where is 'Sex Education' filmed?". CN Traveller. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  14. 1 2 3 Newman 2000, pp. 142–143.
  15. 1 2 3 Cadw. "Principal's residence at the University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus (Grade II) (87726)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  16. 1 2 Cadw. "Caretaker's/Gardener's lodge at the University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus (Grade II) (87727)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  17. 1 2 Cadw. "Gate piers at the University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus (Grade II) (87728)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  18. ↑ Birt, Elizabeth (9 October 2021). "Caerleon Campus memories - Sex Education location demolished". South Wales Argus . Retrieved 4 January 2025.

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