University of Exeter Halls of Residence

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The University of Exeter has the following Halls of Residence:

Contents 1 The Duryard Halls 1.1 The Houses 1.2 Common Parts 1.3 Resident Tutors 1.4 Social Life 1.5 Cardiac Hill 2 Birks Grange 3 Holland Hall 4 Hope Hall 5 Kilmorie Hall 6 Lopes Hall 7 Mardon Hall 8 Thomas Hall 9 Lafrowda 10 St Luke's Campus 11 Cornwall Campus 11.1 Current Halls 11.2 Former Cornwall Halls 12 External links

[edit] The Duryard Halls

Duryard Halls provide 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, contrary to rumours that he lived in Jessie. 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 newspaper, JK Rowling lived in Jessie Montgomery House in her first year at university.

Unfortunately the University has confirmed that Duryard may be demolished, the houses that may go are Murray, Hetherington and Jessie Montgomery, whilst Moberly will survive. 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 now as it's called Birks Grange. The news is set to cause distress to some of the past inhabitants of the buildings, some of which have been providing a luxury standard of accommodation since 1962. The new halls due to be built on the Duryard site are likely to provide en-suite accommodation, like Holland Hall, due to high demand for this type of accommodation.

[edit] The Houses

Duryard Halls are 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. This is said to be the reason that the latter halls sport painted walls, while the former have bare brickwork inside rooms.

Students also occupy the two lodges and the Duryard Mews. The halls house students studying at the University's Streatham Campus, which is roughly a fifteen minute walk away. Though remaining sturdy, Duryard Halls are beginning to show their age, the University may plan to demolish them and rebuild more modern accommodation in their place after July 2006. This has been extended until summer 2007 as Murray is still being used for some first year students in 2006-7.

[edit] Common Parts

The halls are served by a central block, Kay House, containing refectories and the hall bar, the Welly, which often hosts social events. The "Welly" is 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. Events such as quiz nights, happy hour and open mike nights are regular features at the Welly.

[edit] Resident Tutors

The Resident Tutor team for 2005-6 consists of eight tutors, two for each house:

• Jessie Montgomery : Pete Coffee (Senior Tutor) and Brieg Powel
• Hetherington : Magdalena Katomeri and Kate Hext
• Murray : Ha-Young Hwang and Paul Freeman
• Moberly : Alan Barker and Holly Sayer

[edit] Social Life

Duryard has a well-deserved reputation as one of the more social halls, although the Duryard socials and end of year balls have been occasionally surpassed in infamy by those in other halls. The food at Duryard has also been a popular topic for discussion; many students associate Duryard with turkey escalopes, 'fabulous' steak pie, and red dragon pie, favourites of many students, introduced to the 2005 menu by Greg Cole, the veteran catering team manager. In the summer it is common for students to relax in the grounds of the nearby Thomas Hall.

[edit] Cardiac Hill

The path leading up from Birks Grange Halls to campus is called Cardiac Hill, so called because one unfortunate (and probably late) student suffered a heart attack while walking up it. It is infamous in the University for its steepness.

[edit] Birks Grange

Birks Grange, formally 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 as yet there are no disabled students currently down to live at Birks.

The central block has been equipped with a new porters lodge, a modern canteen and the hall bar, named 'The Boot'. There is a snooker and pool table (separate) and a TV room with Sky. 'The Boot' has been renovated and comes equipped with a projector to show live football, a games machine and a well stocked bar. The bar will be the first in the university to be non-smoking, ahead of the law change in the summer. The canteen has been redesigned and will be a pleasant surprise to 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. The menu varies from week to week and caters to most students tastes with a variety of dishes available each day.

An en-suite room in Birks will cost £147.21 a week in the academic year 2007/08.

[edit] Holland Hall

Holland Hall is named after Sir Geoffrey Holland, the Vice-Chancellor of the University who retired in 2002. It is one of the newest halls, opened in September, 2004. It was built to very high standard of accommodation, with en-suite rooms with double beds, showers, toilets and heated towel rails. It has been criticised by students as being more intended to raise money from Conferences and holiday accommodation in the summer vacation than being good appropriate student accommodation.

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.

Having previously been called "Dutch Courage" and "The Clog", the bar in Holland is now imaginatively called "Holland Hall Bar".

[edit] Hope Hall

Hope Hall consists of Hope Main with 86 students accommodated, Lazenby with 19, and St. German's 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.

[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 in Kilmorie tend to be much larger than those in the other University of Exeter halls.

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 of '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 of 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.

Life in Kilmorie Throughout the 20th Century Kilmorie was widely regarded as one of the more mischievous halls. While its relatively small size certainly created a strong bond between its residents, perhaps it was merely fate.

The Kilmorie Committee was an elected body that represented their fellow residents in matters concerning the Hall. There were 8 official positions on the committee with elections held at the end of each academic year. Each committee member would then remain in Hall for a further year to carry out their duties, which were many and varied.

Unlike most Halls of Residence in Exeter the Kilmorie Committee had a strong reputation with many students staying in Hall for their second years. The mix of first and second years representing the Hall created an atmosphere unlike any other.

Life for current Kilmorons Kilmorie houses on average seventy 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 large colour television for the students' use.

Formal dinners take place once or twice a term and are a great Kilmorie tradition. With magnificent food, table service and varying dressing-up themes, the formals always involve the Kilmorie gong, the traditional Mexican wave of drink and the Kilmorie song, which has become something of a war cry:

Kilmorie, la la la! Kilmorie, la la la!

Since the start of the 2006/7 term yet another catchy song has echoed through the Hall:

"Kilmorie 'till I die!" which clearly signals the collapse of all previous Kilmorie standards painstakingly drummed into proper Kilmorons over the years.

[edit] Lopes Hall

Lopes (pronounced "Lopez" by its residents) Hall consists of a main building and two annexes. The main building is composed of the Old House (Nunnery) and the Main Wing which was built in the 1930s. Lopes hall was purpose built as Student accommodation and not, as some believe, converted from a manor house. Instead it is actually the Hope buildings that have been converted, and the Kilmorie accommodation is also made up of converted Victorian buildings. The two annexes of Lopes are Ransom Pickard (Randy P), built in the 1960s, and Pennsylvania Court (Penny C), which was finished in 2004. There are 2 tennis courts and Lopes shares a bar 'The Badger' with Kilmorie & Hope Halls. The first floor has panoramic views across Exeter.

[edit] Mardon Hall

Designed in a "country house" style, Mardon Hall was opened in 1933. 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 Mr. E. J. 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. That, at least, is the version of the story given by the late Dr Frank Oliver, Warden for 33 years to 1997. Certainly, a degree of subterfuge was involved when, shortly after that, Dr Oliver 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"

The current president of Mardon Hall is Ashleigh "Smash" Williams.

Key events in Mardon History

1933 Mardon Hall, Streatham Drive, was opened. Designed by E. Vincent Harris, funded by the College Appeal and E. J. Mardon, BA, LLB, FRGS, 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. Strange Death reported in room 25, cause of death unknown.

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.

2006 Pool table resurfaced. Gay Tea-Soc formed in Room 41. 'Cinema' built in Room 56. Fart Factory room 54, (Craig)

[edit] Thomas Hall

Thomas Hall is a currently disused hall. It was built as Great Duryard House, in about 1690 by Sir Thomas Jefferd, 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 is it 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

Allegedly based on a Swedish prison design, although this may well be an urban myth, Lafrowda is the cheapest of the Streatham campus accommodations. Each floor is generally home to 12 people. Communal facilities consist of one kitchen, one shower, and two toilets. The unenhanced flats are distinguishable by their bare brick walls and threadbare carpets.

[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 its Camborne School of Mines in Camborne, Cornwall, up 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 its Camborne School of Mines in Camborne, Cornwall, up until the school moved to the Tremough Campus Penryn in 2004.

[edit] External links

• Mardon Hall
• An unofficial Lopes Hall site
• Kilmorie Hall
• A Virtual tour of accommodation at Exeter University