Bulmershe Court
Encyclopedia
Bulmershe Court is, today, a campus of the University of Reading
, situated in what is now the Reading
suburb of Woodley, in the English
county of Berkshire
. 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 first reference to it as a manor was in 1447 when it was granted to Reading Abbey
. After the dissolution of the monasteries
, the land was acquired by the poet William Gray
. He probably built the first house here, the remains of which may be the basis of the present Bulmershe Manor.
William Gray's wife, Agnes, was the widow of Robert Blagrave, a merchant of London and Reading and their son, John was Gray's heir. Through this the Blagrave family came to own Bulmershe Court, although both John Blagrave
the mathematician and Daniel Blagrave
the regicide
resided at the family's other residence, at Southcote House in what is now the Reading suburb of Southcote
.
The main branch of the Blagrave family died out in 1789, and the estate was sold to Henry Addington
, then Speaker of the British House of Commons
. At the same time he purchased the adjoining Woodley House, which had been built some seven years earlier.
Addington preferred to live in the more modern structure, and in time the name Bulmershe Court transferred over to that building. The earlier Bulmershe Court became known as Old Bulmershe Court. For a time it fell into disrepair, but was restored in the 1920s and renamed Bulmershe Manor. Bulmershe Manor is a Grade II* listed building.
The newer Bulmershe Court was used by the War Office
during World War II
, but was pulled down in 1962 to make way for an educational establishment called Berkshire College of Education which opened two years later. Principally a centre for Teacher Training, the institution later broadened by offering a range of higher education courses validated by the now defunct :Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA). It became Bulmershe College in 1975 and began awarding its own degrees two years later.
Courses in Modern European Literature and Film and Drama Studies were especially prestigious. Film director Richard Kwietniowski
taught on the latter course during the mid 1980s, as did one-time Channel Four Commissioning Editor Stuart Cosgrove
, and the feminist film academic Laura Mulvey
.
Bulmershe prided itself on its accessibility for students with disabilities, and offered specially adapted residential hostel accommodation. The offices of the Bulmershe Resource Centre for the Handicapped (BReCH) were sited on campus for several years.
With the support of Principal Harold Silver (1978–86), the College also then became a locus for a wide range of activities related to the deaf community. Within a space of a few years, it offered a Theatre of the Deaf course of study, housed offices for both the Berkshire Consortium Support Services and the national charity Friends for the Young Deaf Trust (FYD), and was home to the first-ever profoundly deaf Student Union President, Craig Crowley.
The College also housed a permanent writer-in-residence, Sue Krisman, author of 'Ducks and Drakes', who ran courses for students in creative writing.
Finding itself facing extreme financial pressure as part of a national education funding squeeze at the latter days of the Thatcher
government (under Keith Joseph
, Kenneth Baker
, and others), the future of the College (and others in a similar position) then became in doubt. Principal Brian Palmer led a widespread study of all available options (including a drastic cutback of its expanded provision) and after these had been fully investigated, Bulmershe then merged with the University of Reading in 1989. The merger secured its funding and thus safeguarded a large number of its courses and staff, both academic and administrative.
The site is now the Bulmershe Court Campus of that university, housing its Faculty of Education and Community Studies. It continues to house specialisms and offer courses in education, community studies, social work, and film, theatre and television studies.
Original buildings have been retained and updated, including a £1m 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 have been built on the site as part of the new Bulmershe Hall. One of the original halls continues to bear the name Blagrave in testament to the long history of buildings on the site.
However, as of Spring 2010, the future of the site again seems uncertain. Financial pressures faced by Reading University look set to end studies on the Bulmershe Campus altogether. Recent announcements indicate the end of intake for some courses at the start of the 2010/11 academic year, with existing studies being wound down and courses being transferred to the main Whiteknights site (see below). Bulmershe Hall accommodations may continue to exist beyond this operation, but the longer term future of the campus as a whole is unclear. However, any further development of the grounds, before or after any sell-off, would have to take into account the listed nature of the old Bulmershe Court manor building (as referred to above).
Student social life largely revolved — as in most campuses — around eating and drinking. The formal student refectory (for those living in hall) was supplemented by a pay-as-you-eat canteen affectionately known to all as 'Chip City'. And the Union bar was the scene for many promotion events, perhaps the most notorious being the regular Foster's nights.
Alongside a managing interest in the bar (whose 'Landlord' was actually a College employee), the Bulmershe Students' Union provided a shop to meet every student need. Dee's Shop was a significant landmark on campus. And the weekly freesheet 'Bulletin', edited and produced by the Student Union (and at one stage by TV writer and Dr Who author Colin Brake), kept everyone up-to-date with news, events and gossip.
Large scale events had two main origins. Firstly, theatre students were required to stage performances as part of their assessment and examinations, and these were annually open to audiences gathered from across the student body. In addition, the official College Production, directed by a member of staff, was mounted yearly, with cast and crew consisting of all students who volunteered to play a part.
College productions
Secondly, regular Students Balls were held throughout the academic year, principally for Freshers, at Christmas, for Valentine's Day, Rag Week, and in the Summer. Artists were many and varied, with soul legend Geno Washington performing, and at one stage included both Cockney Rebel in the 1970s and pop band Erasure, who played at Bulmershe in the run up to their big charts successes in the 1980s.
Like much of student politics in the 1980s, BCHESU discussion and debate was heavily influenced by the Thatcher government and its policies, both in education and beyond. As part of the many clubs and societies funded from its budget, the Socialist Socity came to prominence and galvanised and divided opinion across campus. A sustained and organised campaign led to significant success in the elections for the 1984/5 Executive Committee but this was then challenged during proposals to donate Union monies to the striking miners. (The legality of giving money to causes beyond the immediate concern of students - known as 'ultra vires' payments - became a prime concern for student politics nationally at this time). The proposals fell, leading to the wholesale resignation of Socialist Society members of the Executive, including the President.
Aside from party politics, student debate was also fuelled by the disparate nature of the many, quite separate, communities on campus. Tensions between these communities led to two significant events in the life of Bulmershe, leading to formal investigations and reports by the College Authorities.
The first revolved around the annual Christmas revue show called Big Als, which at one stage fell foul of a serious allegation of homophobia. The well-established brash and bawdy event suddenly became a catalyst for the differences that existed between the sporting community, who owned the show, and the drama students who were, by their nature, responsible for every other performance at the College except this one.
The second took place during one year's traditional Rag Week events, and concerned an allegation of racism. Again, it seemed that a large part of the background to the event was the obvious but unspoken tension between the largely white main student body and those black students studying Social Work and Community and Youth work courses. The two groups were almost actively prevented from any significant integration by the logistics of the College - the professional courses were run in a distinct part of the campus, on a timetable at odds with the rest of College life, and attracting existing workers whose day-to-day experience was completely different from that of any other Bulmershe student.
According to a recent official Press Release, the University now plans to divest itself of undergraduate and postgraduate social work programmes from September 2011. Negotiations have recently been concluded to transfer these courses to the University of West London (formerly Thames Valley University), who will operate them from its Reading site in Crescent Road (previously the home of the Reading College of Technology).
Additionally, the refurbished Bob Kayley Studio (referred to above) in fact saw its last performance in December 2010. Courses in Film and Drama Studies are 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 Honourary Professor of the University before his death.
Institute of Education courses are to be relocated to completely refurbished University buildings based at London Road.
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
, situated in what is now the Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
suburb of Woodley, in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. Historically, Bulmershe Court has been the name of a manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
and of two quite distinct country houses, one of which still stands but is now known as Bulmershe Manor.
History
Bulmershe first appears in existing records in the 12th century as a place in the parish of SonningSonning
Sonning, occasionally called Sonning-on-Thames is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire, a few miles east of Reading. The village is situated on the River Thames and was described by Jerome K...
. The first reference to it as a manor was in 1447 when it was granted to Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors...
. After the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
, the land was acquired by the poet William Gray
William Gray
-Religious figures and public officials:*William Gray , American politician and merchant who became one of the wealthiest men of his era*William H...
. He probably built the first house here, the remains of which may be the basis of the present Bulmershe Manor.
William Gray's wife, Agnes, was the widow of Robert Blagrave, a merchant of London and Reading and their son, John was Gray's heir. Through this the Blagrave family came to own Bulmershe Court, although both John Blagrave
John Blagrave
John Blagrave was an English mathematician.He was probably born in the vicinity of Reading in 1561, to John Blagrave of Bulmershe Court at Earley and his wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Hungerford of Down Ampney in Gloucestershire...
the mathematician and Daniel Blagrave
Daniel Blagrave
Daniel Blagrave was a prominent resident of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. He was Member of Parliament for the Parliamentary Borough of Reading over several periods between 1640 and 1660, and was also one of the signatories of King Charles I's death warrant.Daniel...
the regicide
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
resided at the family's other residence, at Southcote House in what is now the Reading suburb of Southcote
Southcote, Berkshire
Southcote is a suburb and local government ward of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.The suburb of Southcote is bounded to the north by the Bath Road and Prospect Park, to the west by the more recently developed suburb of Fords Farm, to the south by the Holy Brook and the water meadows of...
.
The main branch of the Blagrave family died out in 1789, and the estate was sold to Henry Addington
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC was a British statesman, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804....
, then Speaker of the British House of Commons
Speaker of the British House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...
. At the same time he purchased the adjoining Woodley House, which had been built some seven years earlier.
Addington preferred to live in the more modern structure, and in time the name Bulmershe Court transferred over to that building. The earlier Bulmershe Court became known as Old Bulmershe Court. For a time it fell into disrepair, but was restored in the 1920s and renamed Bulmershe Manor. Bulmershe Manor is a Grade II* listed building.
The newer Bulmershe Court was used by the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but was pulled down in 1962 to make way for an educational establishment called Berkshire College of Education which opened two years later. Principally a centre for Teacher Training, the institution later broadened by offering a range of higher education courses validated by the now defunct :Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA). It became Bulmershe College in 1975 and began awarding its own degrees two years later.
Bulmershe College of Higher Education
As Bulmershe College of Higher Education (BCHE), alongside existing BEd and other education qualifications (such as the PGCE), the new establishment ran a range of BA Honours courses in humanities subjects such as History, Geography, and English. The American Studies programme ran a regular exchange with students in America's Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. Students at Boston University also regularly visited campus as part of an established exchange programme.Courses in Modern European Literature and Film and Drama Studies were especially prestigious. Film director Richard Kwietniowski
Richard Kwietniowski
Richard Kwietniowski is an English film director and screenwriter of Polish descent. During the 1980s he was a film lecturer at Bulmershe College of Higher Education Richard Kwietniowski (born 17 March 1957) is an English film director and screenwriter of Polish descent. During the 1980s he was a...
taught on the latter course during the mid 1980s, as did one-time Channel Four Commissioning Editor Stuart Cosgrove
Stuart Cosgrove
Stuart Cosgrove is a Scottish journalist, broadcaster and television executive. As a journalist Cosgrove served on the NME and The Face during the 1980s, before joining Channel 4 in April 1994, serving for eight years as Controller of Arts and Entertainment and currently as Head of Programmes...
, and the feminist film academic Laura Mulvey
Laura Mulvey
Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London...
.
Bulmershe prided itself on its accessibility for students with disabilities, and offered specially adapted residential hostel accommodation. The offices of the Bulmershe Resource Centre for the Handicapped (BReCH) were sited on campus for several years.
With the support of Principal Harold Silver (1978–86), the College also then became a locus for a wide range of activities related to the deaf community. Within a space of a few years, it offered a Theatre of the Deaf course of study, housed offices for both the Berkshire Consortium Support Services and the national charity Friends for the Young Deaf Trust (FYD), and was home to the first-ever profoundly deaf Student Union President, Craig Crowley.
The College also housed a permanent writer-in-residence, Sue Krisman, author of 'Ducks and Drakes', who ran courses for students in creative writing.
Finding itself facing extreme financial pressure as part of a national education funding squeeze at the latter days of the Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
government (under Keith Joseph
Keith Joseph
Keith St John Joseph, Baron Joseph, Bt, CH, PC , was a British barrister and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet under three Prime Ministers , and is widely regarded to have been the "power behind the throne" in the creation of what came to be known as...
, Kenneth Baker
Kenneth Baker
Kenneth Wilfred Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking, CH, PC , is a British politician, a former Conservative MP and a Life Member of the Tory Reform Group.-Early life:...
, and others), the future of the College (and others in a similar position) then became in doubt. Principal Brian Palmer led a widespread study of all available options (including a drastic cutback of its expanded provision) and after these had been fully investigated, Bulmershe then merged with the University of Reading in 1989. The merger secured its funding and thus safeguarded a large number of its courses and staff, both academic and administrative.
The site is now the Bulmershe Court Campus of that university, housing its Faculty of Education and Community Studies. It continues to house specialisms and offer courses in education, community studies, social work, and film, theatre and television studies.
Original buildings have been retained and updated, including a £1m 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 have been built on the site as part of the new Bulmershe Hall. One of the original halls continues to bear the name Blagrave in testament to the long history of buildings on the site.
However, as of Spring 2010, the future of the site again seems uncertain. Financial pressures faced by Reading University look set to end studies on the Bulmershe Campus altogether. Recent announcements indicate the end of intake for some courses at the start of the 2010/11 academic year, with existing studies being wound down and courses being transferred to the main Whiteknights site (see below). Bulmershe Hall accommodations may continue to exist beyond this operation, but the longer term future of the campus as a whole is unclear. However, any further development of the grounds, before or after any sell-off, would have to take into account the listed nature of the old Bulmershe Court manor building (as referred to above).
The student experience and the Students' Union (BCHESU)
As already indicated, the College played host to a wide variety of disparate student communities. The long-standing Education degree courses attracted a large body of sports players and followers, and those of a competitive nature. Its newly added Arts and Humanities faculty appealed to a large number of mature students from the immediate local community, especially women. The theatre, drama, and film strand recruited those with creative flair who had their sights set on careers in the performing arts. And the more focussed courses in Community and Social Work studies (including the CQSW and C&Y courses) were attended by a significant body of black students who — for various logistical reasons — were never quite integrated with the rest of the student body. As might be expected, this sometimes led to significant tensions on campus which occasionally came to a serious head (see below)Student social life largely revolved — as in most campuses — around eating and drinking. The formal student refectory (for those living in hall) was supplemented by a pay-as-you-eat canteen affectionately known to all as 'Chip City'. And the Union bar was the scene for many promotion events, perhaps the most notorious being the regular Foster's nights.
Alongside a managing interest in the bar (whose 'Landlord' was actually a College employee), the Bulmershe Students' Union provided a shop to meet every student need. Dee's Shop was a significant landmark on campus. And the weekly freesheet 'Bulletin', edited and produced by the Student Union (and at one stage by TV writer and Dr Who author Colin Brake), kept everyone up-to-date with news, events and gossip.
Large scale events had two main origins. Firstly, theatre students were required to stage performances as part of their assessment and examinations, and these were annually open to audiences gathered from across the student body. In addition, the official College Production, directed by a member of staff, was mounted yearly, with cast and crew consisting of all students who volunteered to play a part.
College productions
- 1982 Days of the Commune — by Bertolt BrechtBertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
- 1983 Hotel Paradiso
- 1984 The Trojan WomenThe Trojan WomenThe Trojan Women is a tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides. Produced during the Peloponnesian War, it is often considered a commentary on the capture of the Aegean island of Melos and the subsequent slaughter and subjugation of its populace by the Athenians earlier in 415 BC , the same year...
— by EuripidesEuripidesEuripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
Secondly, regular Students Balls were held throughout the academic year, principally for Freshers, at Christmas, for Valentine's Day, Rag Week, and in the Summer. Artists were many and varied, with soul legend Geno Washington performing, and at one stage included both Cockney Rebel in the 1970s and pop band Erasure, who played at Bulmershe in the run up to their big charts successes in the 1980s.
Student politics
BCHESU was structured as many Unions affiliated to the National Union of Students (NUS). It had a written constitution to govern its affairs, and an Executive Committee to run day-to-day business, headed by two paid employees - the President and Deputy President. In addition to the Shop Manager, BCHESU also had two other members of staff on the payroll - a Financial Manager to oversee the annual budget, and an Office Secretary.Like much of student politics in the 1980s, BCHESU discussion and debate was heavily influenced by the Thatcher government and its policies, both in education and beyond. As part of the many clubs and societies funded from its budget, the Socialist Socity came to prominence and galvanised and divided opinion across campus. A sustained and organised campaign led to significant success in the elections for the 1984/5 Executive Committee but this was then challenged during proposals to donate Union monies to the striking miners. (The legality of giving money to causes beyond the immediate concern of students - known as 'ultra vires' payments - became a prime concern for student politics nationally at this time). The proposals fell, leading to the wholesale resignation of Socialist Society members of the Executive, including the President.
Aside from party politics, student debate was also fuelled by the disparate nature of the many, quite separate, communities on campus. Tensions between these communities led to two significant events in the life of Bulmershe, leading to formal investigations and reports by the College Authorities.
The first revolved around the annual Christmas revue show called Big Als, which at one stage fell foul of a serious allegation of homophobia. The well-established brash and bawdy event suddenly became a catalyst for the differences that existed between the sporting community, who owned the show, and the drama students who were, by their nature, responsible for every other performance at the College except this one.
The second took place during one year's traditional Rag Week events, and concerned an allegation of racism. Again, it seemed that a large part of the background to the event was the obvious but unspoken tension between the largely white main student body and those black students studying Social Work and Community and Youth work courses. The two groups were almost actively prevented from any significant integration by the logistics of the College - the professional courses were run in a distinct part of the campus, on a timetable at odds with the rest of College life, and attracting existing workers whose day-to-day experience was completely different from that of any other Bulmershe student.
Bulmershe Court Campus (Reading University)
The University's Bulmershe Court Campus is home to its Institute of Education and the School of Health and Social Care. The student accommodation of Bulmershe Hall is also on the campus. It is made up of many different buildings, some of those being hostels 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.According to a recent official Press Release, the University now plans to divest itself of undergraduate and postgraduate social work programmes from September 2011. Negotiations have recently been concluded to transfer these courses to the University of West London (formerly Thames Valley University), who will operate them from its Reading site in Crescent Road (previously the home of the Reading College of Technology).
Additionally, the refurbished Bob Kayley Studio (referred to above) in fact saw its last performance in December 2010. Courses in Film and Drama Studies are 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 Honourary Professor of the University before his death.
Institute of Education courses are to be relocated to completely refurbished University buildings based at London Road.
External links
- Bulmershe Court page from the University website.