University of Exeter Halls of Residence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The University of Exeter Halls of Residence have just under 4,000 student residential places, including 2,190 in self-catering purpose-built flats and houses and 1,777 in catered accommodation.^[1] Every first year is guaranteed accommodation in catered halls or self-catered accommodation.^[2]

[edit] Birks Grange

Birks Grange, formerly Birks Halls, has recently completed a multi-million pound redevelopment with the residential block being completely rebuilt and the central block being redesigned and renovated. Rooms are now very similar to those found at Holland Hall - ensuite, having double beds, censored lights and all accessories such as duvets, pillows etc being brand new. The residential block is accessed by using a university card - students will only be allowed to access the corridor where their room is.

The building of Birks Grange has also allowed for a number of accessible rooms for people suffering from disabilities to use. These rooms come well equipped to assist those in need. However there are as yet no disabled students currently living at Birks Grange. The central block has been equipped with a new porters lodge, a modern canteen and the hall bar, named 'The Boot'.

'The Boot' has been renovated and re-painted over summer 2007 and comes equipped with a projector to show live football. It also has a patio and garden for soaking up the Devon sun. The bar was the first in the university to be non-smoking.

The canteen has been redesigned and students who will find modern tables and chairs and an open plan layout. Students staying at Birks have breakfast and dinner included but will now have to pay for lunch on weekdays. An en-suite room in Birks will cost £147.21 a week in the academic year 2007/08.

[edit] Cardiac Hill

The path leading from Birks Grange to the campus goes up the very steep Cardiac Hill that students have to tackle every morning to get to lectures.^[2]

[edit] Holland Hall

Holland Hall is named after Sir Geoffrey Holland, the Vice-Chancellor of the University who retired in 2002. One of the newest halls, which opened in September 2004, it is the largest and most expensive of the catered halls and was built to very high standard , with en-suite rooms with double beds, showers, toilets and heated towel rails.^[2] Having previously been called "Dutch Courage", the bar in Holland is now called "The Clog".

The standard rooms are let to first year students for a 31-week term. There is some studio accommodation, with self-catering facilities, for returning students and postgraduates, let on a 40-week term. There are 422 study bedrooms and the dining room has space for 400 students. For the year 2007/2008 the current cost for a week in Holland Hall is £147 per week. This is thought to rise for the 2008/2009 semesters to £156.

[edit] Hope Hall

Hope Hall

Hope Hall consists of Hope Main with 86 students accommodated, Lazenby with 19, and St German's House (not to be confused with St German's 4 separate self-catering blocks, where each block houses approx 36 students) with 24. The main building holds the catering facilities for all three houses, plus Kilmorie Hall. The hall bar is called 'The Badger'. The current Hall Manager is Liz Mossman.

Hope Hall was visited by Queen Mary in 1938.^[3]

[edit] Kilmorie Hall

Kilmorie houses students studying at the University of Exeter in comfortable and character-filled buildings. It is situated on Pennsylvania Road in Exeter, in between the centre of the University campus and the town centre. It is made up of several old Victorian-style buildings converted into a student hall of residence. Kilmorie is a catered hall, sharing a dining room, canteen facilities and student bar (The Badger) with the nearby Hope Hall. The Hall is divided into six interconnected blocks named SB, A, B, C, Z and D. Each bedroom contains a bed, a wardrobe, a bedside table, shelving and a washbasin. The rooms vary widely in size with some rooms being significantly larger and others significantly smaller than the average room.

[edit] Kilmorie History

Kilmorie Hall was originally three large Victorian terraced houses. They were opened as a hall of residence in 1930 for 39 male residents. This comprised 'SB' (The Staff Block), and A-Block. In the 1940s the other main buildings were added to the hall, comprising of B, C, Z and D-Blocks.

Kilmorie was originally a self-contained residential centre, comprising its own kitchen, dining room, library and games rooms. However, in 1971 the dining facilities were closed and residents took their meals in Hope Hall.

[edit] Life in Kilmorie

The Kilmorie Committee was an elected body that represented their fellow residents in matters concerning the Hall. As of 2008 there is a joint committee with Hope, consisting of nine students. Elections are held in the fourth week of the first term, and handover is held the week after.

[edit] Life for current Kilmorons

Kilmorie houses on average 70 students each year, with half of the rooms being shared and half single bedrooms. The common room has sofas, a pool and table tennis table and a small kitchen for the residents, as well as a colour television for the students' use.

[edit] Lopes Hall

Lopes Hall

Lopes (pronounced "Lopez") Hall was opened, by United States Ambassador Robert Bingham on 25 October 1933, for women students only.^[4] It consists of a main building and two annexes. The main building is composed of the Old House (Nunnery) and the Main Wing. Despite its rather grand appearance, Lopes Hall was in fact purpose-built as student accommodation, with the Hope buildings that have been converted and the Kilmorie accommodation that is made up of converted Victorian buildings. The two annexes of Lopes are Ransom Pickard (Randy P (RP)), built in the 1960s, and Pennsylvania Court (Penny C), which was finished in 2004. There are two tennis courts and Lopes shares a bar, 'The Badger', with Kilmorie and Hope Halls.

[edit] Mardon Hall

Mardon Hall

Designed in a 'country house' style, Mardon Hall was opened in 1933 and extensively refurbished in 1996.^[5] It was the University College of the South West's first purpose-built hall of residence. This was 22 years before the University gained its charter, becoming the University of Exeter, in 1955.

Mardon Hall was financed by the College Appeal and EJ Mardon, who donated £25,000 towards the cost of building the Hall and after whom it was named. The Mardons were a county family with long-standing industrial and farming interests in Devon. Several members of the family attended the university, the last of whom being Alex Mardon, who was a resident of the Hall from 1997. There was still not enough money to complete the building and, due to lack of finance, a temporary wooden hut was built for use as a dining room.

In early planning against the outbreak of war, the Government indicated a wish to use Mardon Hall as a hospital. In the event, it continued in use for student accommodation until 1943, when it was taken over by the American Red Cross as a rest centre for American troops. Interestingly, a wartime German map, held by the Devon Record Office, has the adjacent Reed Hall and the University's Washington Singer Laboratories marked as military targets, but not Mardon. Perhaps the Germans too thought Mardon would be useful for billeting troops in the event of invasion. The Hall was returned to student use in 1945.

Today, Mardon Hall provides accommodation for a total of 106 students, approximately half men and half women. For its first 53 years, the Hall accommodated men only. Women arrived in 1986, apparently by default, when "too many" women applied for University accommodation, but "not enough" men. The late Dr Frank Oliver, Warden for 33 years to 1997, was persuaded to countenance the replacement of the traditional benches in the Dining Room with upholstered chairs, as a 'temporary measure'. They are still there.

The Mardon Bar is known as "The Beaver". The Mardon Common Room is known as "The Common Room"

[edit] Key events in Mardon history

1933 Mardon Hall, Streatham Drive, was opened. Designed by E Vincent Harris, funded by the College Appeal and EJ Mardon, who gave £25,000 towards the cost of its building.
1943 Taken over by the American Red Cross as a rest centre and Psychological Hospital for American troops.
1945 Returned to student use.
1966 In the Trinity Term, Mardon was closed for electrical work. Students and staff were moved to the then new Haldon House, at Birks, the hall of residence at the bottom of Cardiac Hill.
1968 Cotley became an annexe of Mardon Hall.
1978 The bathrooms in Mardon Hall were redesigned to create an additional nine study bedrooms, three by Autumn 1978, and the remaining six by Autumn 1979.
1986 Mardon for the first time accommodated female students as well as male.
1987 Cotley ceased to be an annex to Mardon Hall, being taken for the Department of Continuing Adult Education.
1989 Higher Lodge was used as an annexe to Mardon Hall.
1992 The south wing of Mardon Hall was converted from being part staff accommodation to all student accommodation.
1993 Higher Lodge, annex to Mardon Hall, was closed at Easter, to make way for the construction of the Peter Chalk Centre. The rooms of Mardon Hall were renumbered during the summer.
1996 Room 21 of Mardon Hall was refurbished at Easter and the top floor during the summer vacation.
1997 The first and second floors of Mardon were refurbished during the summer vacation.
1999 St Cross was closed and subsequently sold.

[edit] Thomas Hall

Thomas Hall is a currently disused hall. It was built as Great Duryard House, in about 1690 by Sir Thomas Jeffers, but was renamed Thomas Hall in 1936.

Thomas Hall looks out over a large sloping lawn, with a stream running along the bottom. Past this stream there is a set of steps that lead to the Duryard Halls. In the summer term it is common to see students from the nearby halls sunbathing on the grounds. There are many old trees in the grounds, and large patches of daffodils come up during the spring. To the back and left sides of the house is a small wood, and to the right the are two tennis courts, only one of which is usable.

The Manor of Duryard was originally owned by the city of Exeter, being sold off in the 17th Century. Great Duryard House was purchased by the University just before the Second World War. Thomas Hall has not been used as a hall of residence for some years, however currently the small lodge behind it is inhabited. Presently the house is used for storage. It is not known whether it will be used to house students again.

[edit] Lafrowda

Lafrowda Flats

Lafrowda is the cheapest of the Streatham campus accommodations. It consists of flats, and each flat has between three and twelve bedrooms with shared kitchens, lounge areas and bathrooms.^[2] Some blocks have been enhanced with a larger kitchen and communal area, and more showers than standard.

[edit] Duryard Halls (closed)

Duryard Halls provided accommodation for around 650 students. These halls are famous for being the residence of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, and pop singer and winner of Pop Idol, Will Young. Will Young lived in Hetherington House. In an interview on the official Will Young website, the pop star said, "I can't remember the room number, but it was Hetherington House, I think they might have knocked it down by now and they should have done, because it was horrendous. A breeze block building." According to the Daily Mail , JK Rowling lived in Jessie Montgomery House in her first year at university.^{[citation needed]}

The demolition of the halls has now begun, with only Moberly house remaining. Moberly, which is sited on the other side of Lower Argyll Road from the other houses, will be used to provide standard accommodation, and will be affiliated with the reconstructed Birks Halls (or, as it is now called, Birks Grange). The new halls due to be built on the Duryard site provide en-suite accommodation, like Holland Hall, due to high demand for this type of accommodation.

Duryard Halls were spread over four houses, all of which surround the old Duryard House and its drive:

Jessie Montgomery
Hetherington
Murray
Moberly

Hetherington and Murray were once used exclusively for male students while Jessie Montgomery and Moberly were reserved for female students. Students also used to occupy the two lodges and the Duryard Mews. The halls housed students studying at the University's Streatham Campus, which is roughly a fifteen minute walk away.

The halls were served by a central block, Kay House, containing refectories and the hall bar, the Welly. The Welly was also a popular drink with those celebrating birthdays, which involves a cocktail of spirits, beer, wine and alcopops drunk from an old, but sanitary Wellington boot.

[edit] Crossmead Hall (closed)

Crossmead Hall Arms

Crossmead was located across the river at the top of Dunsford Hill. An all-male hall, the residents referred to themselves as 'Jentlemen' in tribute to the 'J' bus service long after this had been replaced by the 'C'.

The hall was acquired in 1944. In the 1980s the lower part of the grounds on the corner of Barley Lane and Dunsford Hill was developed as Cadogan Court, a nursing home. Crossmead was closed as a hall and used by the University as a conference centre. This closed in 2006. There was controversy in autumn 2005 when the University applied to build 36 flats and 54 houses on the site; proposals that were bitterly opposed by the local residents.^[6]

The hall originally had 11 acres of grounds. Accommodation included 'Main Hall', a substantial red brick house built' in 1893 and extended in the 1920s with a modern dining block appended in the 1960s; 'The Villas', a row of Georgian villas (circa 1829) fronting onto Dunsford Hill; 'The Huts', 1940s pre-fabs, and later blocks dating from the 1960s. Main Hall included a bar known as the Whip and Chain. The grounds included a fine avenue of red-flowered horse chestnuts running down to Dunsford Hill, glasshouses and a tennis court in an old basalt quarry. In front of the dining block was a croquet lawn and a pond.

The pond was home to a succession of Muscovy ducks known as Albert. The hall's coat of arms (see illustration) included Albert the Duck, a whip and chain, a letter J, and crossed croquet mallets.

[edit] Notable residents

Dr Tegwyn Harris, biologist and noted expert on polychaete worms, warden 1967-82.
Professor Nicholas Orme, historian, sub-warden 1969-81.

[edit] St Luke's Campus

St Luke's Hall

[edit] Cornwall Campus

[edit] Current Halls

Glasney Parc

[edit] Former Cornwall Halls

Beringer House - Beringer was a hall of Residence for University of Exeter fresher students at the Camborne School of Mines in Camborne, Cornwall, until the school moved to the Tremough Campus, Penryn in 2004 . Beringer House was a two-storey building constructed from Cornish granite and concrete. The building is named after one of the school's founding fathers, J Beringer.
MacWilliam - was a hall of Residence for University of Exeter graduate students at the Camborne School of Mines in Camborne, Cornwall, until the school moved to the Tremough Campus Penryn in 2004 .