Wills Hall

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Wills Hall

The outside of Old Quad as seen from the Cedar Lawn
Wills Hall (Bristol)
Wills Hall
Shown within Bristol
Building information
Town Bristol
Country England
Coordinates 51°28′60″N 2°37′38″W / 51.483209, -2.627198Coordinates: 51°28′60″N 2°37′38″W / 51.483209, -2.627198
Architect Sir George Oatley
Client George Alfred Wills
Construction start date 1925
Completion date 1928

Wills Hall is one of the nine halls of residence in the University of Bristol. Cresting the Stoke Bishop site on the edge of the Bristol Downs, in Parry's Lane, it houses 340 students in two quadrangles. The majority of these students are in their first year of study, but a number of students from other years stay on to contribute to hall life through the Junior Common Room or other groups. The current Warden of Wills Hall is Mr Donald Shell, a senior lecturer in the Department of Politics in the University of Bristol; Mr Shell took up this position in 1997.

Contents

[edit] History

The name of Wills Hall reflects the university-wide connection with the Wills family. The fortune made by their famous tobacco empire, W. D. & H. O. Wills and later Imperial Tobacco, enabled Henry Overton Wills III to fund the University's foundation in 1908 with a pledge of £100,000 and many of its finest buildings, such as the Wills Memorial Building. His son George Alfred Wills provided the money to build a hall of residence in memory of his brother Henry Herbert Wills. He originally planned to base the hall around Goldney Hall in Clifton, next to the existing hall of Clifton Hill House. However, the warden of the all-female Clifton Hill House felt that having so many young men so close to "her girls" would be a grave moral risk, and demanded that the new hall be sited at least two miles away. Thus Downside House in Stoke Bishop was purchased, and a quadrangle of accommodation blocks erected around it according to the design of Sir George Oatley. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.[1] A Latin inscription on the exterior of the dining hall dedicated the hall to Henry Herbert.

Downside House, now the warden's lodgings
Downside House, now the warden's lodgings

Wills Hall was officially opened by Winston Churchill in 1929, then the Chancellor of the University. When he returned to open Churchill Hall in the late 1950s, he allowed himself to be "kidnapped" and his release was allowed only after he signed the following statement, now displayed in the Warden's Lodge at Wills:

"I Winston Spencer Churchill MP, CH Chancellor of the University of Bristol, Declare there be no Finer Hostel than Wills Hall among the Universities of the British Empire". [2]

The initial quadrangle sufficed until rising student numbers precipitated the building of a further accommodation block, 'XYZ', which was opened in 1961. Another expansion in 1990 completed this 'New Quad' as 'UVW' block was built. This new block featured en-suite rooms and a conference centre, in an effort to make Wills more competitive as a venue for the conference market, which was becoming an important source of revenue for cash-strapped universities.[3]

Having initially been an all-male institution, Wills became the last hall to accept both sexes in 1985, despite opposition from the more 'traditionalist' wing of the Wills Hall Association. In that first year, seventy women took up residence alongside 200 men, but over the next few years female numbers quickly rose, and Wills today is equally split between the sexes. However, due to the shared bathroom facilities in old quad and XYZ block, floors are single-sex.

[edit] Motto

Over the main entrance to Wills Hall can be seen a shield emblazoned with the Wills family crest and their motto "Pro Aris et Focis". This Latin phrase literally means "for our altars and our hearths", but is used by ancient authors to express attachment to all that was most dear and venerable. It could be more idiomatically translated as "for our homes".

[edit] Facilities

The Old Quad in the snow
The Old Quad in the snow

The Monica Wills Chapel was opened in 1930 and holds a short informal service for students from the Stoke Bishop halls each Sunday morning during term-time. It is occasionally used to stage plays and concerts. An Organ has recently been obtained for the chapel, to be placed on the west gallery. Wills Hall has an oak-panelled dining room, often likened to that of an Oxbridge college. There are also tennis and squash courts which the Hall shares with the rest of the halls on the Stoke Bishop Site, a croquet lawn, table tennis room, and an oak-panelled snooker room which dates back to the original Downside House. The Wills Hall Ball takes place in June of each year.

[edit] Societies

The Hall has a theatrical society, the Wills Hall Amateur Theatrical Society (WHATS) which performs musicals, plays and variety shows for the students.

Wills Hall is also the only hall in Stoke Bishop to publish its own newsletter, The Executor, which is edited by students in hall and is published several times a year. This itself is the successor to the Wills Hall Loo Sheet, a newsletter which got its name from the fact that it was distributed by being posted in all communal lavatories around the hall.

The Wills Hall Association is a group including no-longer resident members going back to the hall's foundation in 1929. The association meets once a year for a reunion at Wills, including a formal meal and speeches.

Wills Hall RFC takes part in the Intramural rugby tournament organised by Bristol University AU. The 2006-7 season was one of the worst on record, with Wills Hall RFC not winning a single game. The 2007-8 season, under captains Rhys Beynon-Thomas and Luke Falconer, is much more successful, with a large squad looking to make the play-offs at the end of the season.

[edit] Wills Hall and classism

In 2003, as part of the national controversy surrounding claims that British universities were discriminating in favour of public school applicants, The Observer ran an article purporting to highlight class-strife and prejudice in Wills.[4] Letters in reply followed the next week vigorously defending Wills.[5]

[edit] Notable former students

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wills Hall. Images of England. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  2. ^ History of Wills Hall
  3. ^ Index Communications Meeting Services Newsletter (pdf). Index Communications Meeting Services. Retrieved on 2006-03-18.
  4. ^ Amelia Hill. "Inside a university challenged", The Guardian, 2003-03-09. Retrieved on 2006-03-18. 
  5. ^ Letters: University entry policy. "Positive discrimination? Don't insult me", The Guardian, 2003-03-16. Retrieved on 2006-03-18. 

[edit] External links

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