Bretton Hall College of Education was a higher education college in

West Bretton West Bretton is a village and civil parish near Barnsley, West Yorkshire, England. It lies close to junction 38 of the M1 motorway at Haigh. It has a population of 546, reducing to 459 at the 2011 Census. There is a school in the village, Wes ...

in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, England. It opened as a teacher training college in 1949 with awards from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. The college merged with the University of Leeds in 2001 and the campus closed in 2007.

History

In 1949 Bretton Hall College, a teacher training college founded by

Alec Clegg Sir Alexander Bradshaw Clegg (13 June 1909 – 20 January 1986 in Yorkshire) was an English educationalist. He was the innovative Chief Education Officer of the West Riding of Yorkshire County Council for whom he worked from 1945 to 1974. The son ...

specialising in innovative courses in design, music and the visual and performance arts, opened in the historic

Bretton Hall Bretton Hall may refer to: *Bretton Hall, Flintshire, former fortified manor house on the England/Wales border *Bretton Hall, West Yorkshire, country house in West Yorkshire, England *Bretton Hall College Bretton Hall College of Education was a h ...

in West Bretton, Yorkshire. It became an affiliated college of the

, which validated its degrees. The college had financial difficulties, and, with the support of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), merged with the University of Leeds in August 2001. Most of the music, fine art and teacher training courses were moved to the

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

campus, but visual and performing arts education and creative writing remained at the Bretton site, which became home to the University's School of Performance and Cultural Industries. In December 2004 the university's governing body reversed an earlier decision and decided that the Bretton Hall site was not financially viable, and the School of Performance and Cultural Industries should move to the main university campus in summer 2007, allowing all existing Bretton-based students to complete their studies there. The closure was documented on the BBC website by student Clair Parker. In June 2006 it was announced that Bretton Hall was to be sold to Wakefield Council. On 3 May 2007 John Godber presented ''Final Curtain'', a documentary on Bretton Hall, broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. On 5 and 6 May 2007, a reunion was organised for the

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

and students of Bretton Hall between 1947 and 2007 as a celebration of the school's contribution to the arts industry and also the academic excellence it produced over sixty years. On the Saturday, Mike Levon staged a concert in the Music Salon. In November 2007 it was announced that Bretton Hall would be developed as a luxury hotel and spa. The

Yorkshire Sculpture Park The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barbar ...

(YSP) was founded in the college parkland by Bretton Hall lecturer Peter Murray CBE. YSP has become a leading international art centre renowned for art and performance in the landscape. When the college closed, Yorkshire Sculpture Park took over the estate grounds and lakes. In May 2013 a series of special visits to the former hostels (halls of residence) was co-organised by Wakefield Council, YSP, the developer

Rushbond Rushbond plc is an unlisted commercial and residential property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. It was founded in Leeds, West Yorkshire in 1986 by Jonathan W Maud and exclusively operates around the Leeds City Region, ...

and Bretton Hall alumni. Photographs were taken of every hostel room. A further event was organised in September 2013 to visit the mansion. Rushbond will ensure that a complete photographic record will be taken of the building before refurbishment.

Notable alumni

* Anne Collins * Ian Boldsworth * Jon Clark (lighting designer) *

Shelley Conn Shelley Deborah Conn (born 21 September 1976) is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Lady Mary Sharma in the hugely successful Netflix series ''Bridgerton'', as Isabella in the film ''Love Sarah'', as Dr Elizabeth Shan ...

* Wil Edmunds *

Beatie Edney Beatrice Edney (born 23 October 1962) is an English television actress. Born in London, she is the daughter of actress Sylvia Syms and her husband Alan Edney. Her brother is Benjamin Edney and her cousin is musician Nick Webb. Edney first came ...

Michael Fentiman Michael Fentiman (born 1 June 1982 at Harlow, Essex, England) is a British theatre director. Fentiman attended Bretton Hall for three years, where he trained to be an actor, followed by a postgraduate course at Mountview Academy for one year ...

Emma Fryer Emma Fryer is a British stand-up comedian, actress and writer from Coventry, best known for playing Tania in BBC Three's ''Ideal'', Janine in E4's '' PhoneShop'' and Gaynor in BBC Two's ''Home Time'', which she co-wrote with Neil Edmond. In 20 ...

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series ''Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', and '' Dracula''. Together with ...

John Godber John Harry Godber (born 18 May 1956) is known mainly for observational comedies. The ''Plays and Players Yearbook'' of 1993 rated him the third most performed playwright in the UK after William Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn. He has been crea ...

Esther Hall Esther Jane Hall (born 28 August 1970) is an English actress who has appeared in a number of television dramas. Early life Born in Manchester in 1970 and brought up in Cheshire, she took A levels in Manchester before training in theatre arts ...

Carla Henry Carla Henry is a British actress, most famous for her role as Donna in ''Queer As Folk''. She trained at Bretton Hall College. Her performances in stage productions such as ''Storm'' (Contact Theatre) and ''Habitat'' (Royal Exchange) and ''On ...

* Roger Hutchinson * Adrian Howells *

Christine Kavanagh Christine Mary Kavanagh (born 24 March 1957 in Prescot, Lancashire) is an English actress. Career overview Kavanagh was educated in Brussels, and trained as a drama teacher at Bretton Hall College and as an actor at Bristol Old Vic Theat ...

Jonathan Kerrigan Jonathan Kerrigan (born 14 October 1972) is an English actor well known for various leading roles on TV including '' In The Club'', ''Casualty'', '' Heartbeat'', ''Merseybeat, The Five'' and ''Reach For The Moon''. Films include '' Diana'', ''FL ...

* Louisa Leaman *

Simon Lightwood Simon Robert Lightwood (born 15 December 1980) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wakefield since the 2022 by-election, following the resignation of Conservative MP, Imran Ahmad Khan, who resigned fol ...

M.P. * Tom Lorcan *

Kate McGregor Kate McGregor (born 1972) is an English actress known for her portrayal of the character Emily Kirk in British soap opera ''Emmerdale''. Early life Born in Yorkshire, England, McGregor attended the now defunct Bretton Hall College of Educatio ...

Wayne McGregor Wayne McGregor, CBE (born 12 March 1970) is a multi award-winning British choreographer and director. He is the Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor and Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. McGregor was appointed Commander of the ...

Kay Mellor The name Kay is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a feminine name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own r ...

Simon Messingham Simon Messingham is a British science fiction writer, and a comedy writer and performer, who has written six ''Doctor Who'' novels and another ''Doctor Who'' story released as a BBC Audio Drama. Messingham has also witten an original novel, Sirens ...

Richard O'Brien Richard Timothy Smith. known professionally as Richard O'Brien, is a British-New Zealand actor, writer, musician, composer, and television presenter. He wrote the musical stage show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in 1973, which has remained in conti ...

Ray Peacock Richard Ian Boldsworth (27 June 1973, in Warrington, England), previously known under the pseudonym Ray Peacock, is a comic performer, best known for '' The ParaPod'', '' The Peacock and Gamble Podcast'' and the Ray Peacock Podcast. He came to ...

* Steve Pemberton *

David Rappaport David Stephen Rappaport (23 November 1951 – 2 May 1990) was an English actor with achondroplasia. He appeared in the films '' Time Bandits'' and '' The Bride'', and television series '' L.A. Law'', '' The Wizard'' and ''Captain Planet and the ...

Sir Ken Robinson Sir Ken Robinson (4 March 1950 – 21 August 2020) was a British author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies. He was director of the Arts in Schools Project (1985 ...

* Stuart Semple *

Reece Shearsmith Reeson Wayne "Reece" Shearsmith (born 27 August 1969) is an English actor, writer and comedian. He is best known for being a member of '' The League of Gentlemen'', alongside Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss, and Jeremy Dyson. With Pemberton, he l ...

The Research The Research were a musical ensemble, band from Wakefield, England. The members were : Russell 'The Disaster' Searle (vocals/guitar/synthesizers), Georgia Lashbrook (bass/vocals/harmonica), and Sarah Williams (drums/vocals). Their songs - typical ...

Mark Thomas Mark Clifford Thomas (born 11 April 1963) is an English comedian, presenter, political satirist, and journalist. He first became known as a guest comic on the BBC Radio 1 comedy show ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' in the late 1980s. He is ...

Chris T-T Chris T-T (born Christopher Thorpe-Tracey, 16 September 1974) is a retired English singer-songwriter based in Brighton. In a 20-year career he released 10 studio albums, two live collections and a number of collaborations. He is also a speaker, ...

Colin Welland Colin Welland (born Colin Edward Williams; 4 July 1934 – 2 November 2015) was an English actor and screenwriter. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Mr Farthing in '' Kes'' (1969) and the Academy Aw ...

Gillian Wright Gillian Wright (born 5 May 1960) is an English actress, best known for portraying the role of Jean Slater on the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' since 2004, for which she has won a number of awards. She was a teacher and theatre director before ...

References

External links

University of Leeds press release on the proposed closure of Bretton Hall Campus

BBC news item about the sale to Wakefield Council
- information on the history of the House and grounds * ''Information about location of Bretton Estate archives, with contact details'' * ''Alumni-driven website'' {{coord, 53.6107, -1.5729, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Bretton Hall College Buildings and structures in the City of Wakefield Teacher training colleges in the United Kingdom Defunct universities and colleges in England 1949 establishments in England 2007 disestablishments in England University of Leeds