Bulmershe Court was a campus of the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public 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 192 ...

, situated in what is now the

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

suburb of Woodley, in the English county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. 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 Bulmershe College was an education institution in the Reading, Berkshire, Reading suburb of Woodley, Berkshire, Woodley, in the English county of Berkshire. Historically, Bulmershe has been the name of a Manorialism, manor and of two quite dis ...

. That merged with the University of Reading in 1989 to create the Bulmershe Court campus. It closed in 2012 and all its activities have moved to either the

London Road Campus 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. The site for the campus was given to the u ...

Whiteknights Park 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. Whit ...

. On 23 December 2013,

CALA Homes Cala Homes is a British housebuilding company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Cala Homes (Gaelic Dachaighean Cala) was founded in 1875 as the City of Aberdeen Land Association. It has grown to become one of the UK's largest house ...

acquired the site for a residential development of 290 dwelling

On 25 December 2013 Bulmershe Court hall of residence was burnt dow

Campus

Academic profile

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). 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

) 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

– 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 Anthony Minghella, (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007. He won the Academy Award for Best Directo ...

, 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 The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Col ...

(formerly Thames Valley University), who operate them from a Reading site in Crescent Road (previously the home of the Reading College of Technology). 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.

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,

acquired the site for a residential development of 290 dwelling

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 demolishe

As of October 2017, the site is still being developed.

References

*David Nash Ford (2004)
Royal Berkshire History – Old Bulmershe Court
Retrieved 31 July 2005. *David Nash Ford (2004)

Retrieved 31 July 2005. It is made up of many different halls, including Mitford, Penn, Hollins, Huntley, Winchcombe and Blagrave.

External links

CALA Homes Bulmershe Campus
{{University of Reading Grade II* listed buildings in Reading Country houses in Berkshire University of Reading University and college campuses in the United Kingdom History of Reading, Berkshire Borough of Wokingham British country houses destroyed in the 20th century 1964 establishments in England 2013 disestablishments in England