fbpx
Wikipedia

Wills Hall

January 01, 1970

Wills Hall is one of more than twenty halls of residence in the University of Bristol. It is located high on the Stoke Bishop site on the edge of the Bristol Downs, and houses c. 370 students in two quadrangles. Almost all of these students are in their first year of study.

Wills Hall
University of Bristol
Inside Old Quad as seen from centre lawn
LocationStoke Bishop, Bristol, England
Coordinates51°28′42″N 2°37′22″W / 51.4784°N 2.6229°W / 51.4784; -2.6229
MottoPro Aris et Focis (Latin)
Motto in EnglishFor our altars and our hearths
FounderGeorge Alfred Wills
Established1929
ArchitectSir George Oatley
Wardenabolished[1]
Residents370
Websitewww.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Wills/home.htm
Map
Location in Bristol

History edit

The name Wills Hall reflects the university's 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 he financed 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 on the site of Downside House, formerly the residence of the Georges, a family of Bristol brewers.

George Alfred Wills originally planned to base the residence around Goldney Hall in Clifton, next to Clifton Hill House. However, the Warden of the all-female Clifton Hill House felt that having so many young men so close to her residents would pose a significant 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, with the rooms arranged on staircases (called "houses", A to N). It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.[2] A Latin inscription on the exterior of the dining hall dedicated the hall to Henry Herbert.

 
Downside House, once the Warden's Lodge, now temporary staff accommodation

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, that used to be displayed in the Warden's House at Wills, but which is now in the university's Special Collections Department:

"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".[3]

The initial quadrangle sufficed until rising student numbers precipitated the building of a further accommodation block, an L-shaped configuration of three linked houses (X, Y and Z) which was opened in 1961. Another expansion, in 1990, included a further accommodation block arranged on three floors (U, V and W), which featured en-suite rooms and a conference centre, the better to place the university in the conference market, which was becoming an important source of revenue.[4] Together with X, Y and Z houses, the new development completed a quadrangle now known as New Quad, the original accommodation being Old Quad.

Wills was founded as an all-male institution and was the last hall to accept both sexes: it went mixed in 1985, despite opposition from some traditionalists, but with the enthusiastic support of most students. In that year, 70 women took up residence alongside 200 men, and over the next few years the numbers of women residents rose quickly.

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.[5] Letters in reply followed the next week vigorously defending Wills.[6]

In 2008 a Harrow-educated undergraduate at Wills Hall crashed a Mini Cooper in the grounds of the Hall while intoxicated.[7]

The 2012 BBC television film The Best of Men was filmed at Wills Hall, Manor Hall and Goldney Hall in Bristol.[citation needed]

In 2017 there were allegedly incidents of drink-spiking in the Hall's "welcome week", widely reported in the press. None could be medically confirmed as spiking. The Warden and other pastoral staff responded quickly and firmly and no further incidents were reported.[8][9][10]

In December 2017 the university announced a new model for pastoral support in the residences, which included the abolition of the posts of Warden, Deputy Warden and Student Support Adviser. The decision to implement a new system of pastoral care generated significant controversy, reflected in the national and local press, partly in the light of Bristol University's regrettable record of student suicides. The first proposals by the university were modified in February 2018. Students resident in Wills Hall were very prominent in the debate surrounding the changes, leading on a petition that secured thousands of signatures and publishing in student and national newspapers. No action was taken by the university in response to this petition.[11][12][13]

Facilities edit

 
The Old Quad in the snow
 
Back of Old Quad as seen from the Cedar Lawn

Wills Hall has a bar that is open once a week and staffed by students and former residents. The bar also hosts JCR quizzes, film nights, sports broadcasts and other events. There are theme-nights, including alcohol-free events, "Bond Night", and a "White Party" for the whole hall.

The Monica Wills Chapel was opened in 1930. It hosts a number of services a week (e.g. evensong, compline) for students from all the Stoke Bishop halls, usually on Friday evenings during term-time, and there are well-attended Christmas and Armistice events. It is also used to stage plays and concerts, and houses a grand piano and a harpsichord as well as a fully refurbished organ.

Wills Hall has an oak-panelled dining room, often likened to that of an Oxbridge college, and the Hall's architect, Sir George Oatley, deliberately took inspiration from the proportions and styles of certain Oxford Colleges when making his designs.

The Hall houses tennis and squash courts that are shared with the other halls on the Stoke Bishop Site; there is a croquet lawn (used for an annual croquet tournament, the "Morton / Relph cup"), a table tennis room, and an oak-panelled billiard room. The billiard room was constructed when Downside House was extended in the late 19th century and the fireplace still has the original De Morgan tiles.

Motto edit

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.

Societies and clubs edit

 
Barneys Club Crest

The discussion club "Barneys" (named after a brand of tobacco that rivalled the Wills products), was founded in December 1931 and is still active, with fortnightly speaker-meetings on Sundays in term time. Historically, club meetings or "meets" consisted of a member presenting a topic of interest while other students relax over glasses of port and smoke pipes.[14][15] The Barneys Club traditionally holds an annual dinner at which a distinguished guest delivers a speech.

The Hall's theatrical society, the Wills Hall Amateur Theatrical Society (WHATS), performs musicals, plays and variety shows for audiences from the Stoke Bishop halls and beyond. Recent productions include Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem in 2016.

Wills Hall used to publish its own newsletter, The Executor, which was edited by students in hall and was published several times a year. This was the successor to the Wills Hall Loo Sheet, a newsletter that took its name from the fact that it was distributed by being posted in all communal lavatories around the hall. In 2015, a satirical newspaper called The Oracle was published for two issues before being shut down.[16]

Wardens edit

There have been ten Wardens of Wills Hall, the last being made redundant in August 2018, a year short of the Hall's 90th anniversary:

  • Harry Norton Matthews (1929-1935)
  • Richard Keigwin (1935-1945)
  • Oliver Kendall (1945-1959)
  • John Sloane (1959-1973)
  • Arthur Graves (1973-1982)[17]
  • Sean Gill (1982-1991)
  • Phyllida Parsloe (1991-1997)[18]
  • Donald Shell (1997-2009)
  • Julian Rivers (2009-2015)[19]
  • Robert Vilain (2015-2018)

Notable sub-wardens include the British grammarian, historian and archaeologist Arthur Basil Cottle FSA and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics Cecil Frank Powell FRS.

Notable former students edit

References edit

  1. ^ https://thetab.com/uk/bristol/2017/12/20/confirmed-wardens-set-to-be-axed-in-the-biggest-hall-changes-in-bristols-history-31736
  2. ^ "Wills Hall". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2007.
  3. ^ M. J. Crossley Evans (1994), A History of Wills Hall University of Bristol. University of Bristol. ISBN 0-86292-421-9.
  4. ^ (PDF). Index Communications Meeting Services. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2006.
  5. ^ Amelia Hill (9 March 2003). "Inside a university challenged". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 March 2006.
  6. ^ "Positive discrimination? Don't insult me". The Guardian. London. 16 March 2003. Retrieved 18 March 2006.
  7. ^ Leach, Ben (29 October 2008). . The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 1 November 2008.
  8. ^ Reporters, Telegraph (21 September 2017). "Drink-spiking spate at Bristol University during Freshers' Week investigated by police". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  9. ^ "There's been a worrying spate of drink-spiking at Bristol University". The Independent. 22 September 2017.
  10. ^ "University of Bristol students warned of drink spikings". BBC News. 21 September 2017.
  11. ^ "Bristol University's plans to scrap wardens in halls revised after protests". BBC News. 21 February 2018.
  12. ^ "Bristol University urged to rethink plans to scrap live-in pastoral care". the Guardian. 24 December 2017.
  13. ^ Yong, Michael (21 December 2017). "Plans to cut wardens at Bristol Uni halls could 'risk student lives'". BristolLive.
  14. ^ Hill, Amelia (9 March 2003). "Inside a university challenged". TheGuardian.com.
  15. ^ "Barney's Club". willshallassociation.org.
  16. ^ Zodas, Livi (12 February 2015). "Cringe pamphlet saying Northerners have AIDS and fat people are 'diseased' distributed in Wills Hall". The Bristol Tab. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  17. ^ . Wills Hall Association. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019.
  18. ^ "UWE AWARDS HONORARY DEGREE TO PHYLLIDA PARSLOE - UWE Bristol: News Releases". info.uwe.ac.uk.
  19. ^ "Professor Julian Rivers - Our People". www.bristol.ac.uk.
  20. ^ https://www.willshallassociation.org/wills-alumni
  21. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRi97U3SApY
  22. ^ https://www.willshallassociation.org/committee-wills-hall-association

External links edit

  • Wills Hall Accommodation Office website
  • Wills Hall Association

January 01, 1970
wills, hall, more, than, twenty, halls, residence, university, bristol, located, high, stoke, bishop, site, edge, bristol, downs, houses, students, quadrangles, almost, these, students, their, first, year, study, university, bristolinside, quad, seen, from, ce. Wills Hall is one of more than twenty halls of residence in the University of Bristol It is located high on the Stoke Bishop site on the edge of the Bristol Downs and houses c 370 students in two quadrangles Almost all of these students are in their first year of study Wills HallUniversity of BristolInside Old Quad as seen from centre lawnLocationStoke Bishop Bristol EnglandCoordinates51 28 42 N 2 37 22 W 51 4784 N 2 6229 W 51 4784 2 6229MottoPro Aris et Focis Latin Motto in EnglishFor our altars and our hearthsFounderGeorge Alfred WillsEstablished1929ArchitectSir George OatleyWardenabolished 1 Residents370Websitewww wbr bris wbr ac wbr uk wbr Depts wbr Wills wbr home wbr htmMapLocation in Bristol Contents 1 History 2 Facilities 3 Motto 4 Societies and clubs 5 Wardens 6 Notable former students 7 References 8 External linksHistory editThe name Wills Hall reflects the university s connection with the Wills family The fortune made by their famous tobacco empire W D amp 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 he financed 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 on the site of Downside House formerly the residence of the Georges a family of Bristol brewers George Alfred Wills originally planned to base the residence around Goldney Hall in Clifton next to Clifton Hill House However the Warden of the all female Clifton Hill House felt that having so many young men so close to her residents would pose a significant 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 with the rooms arranged on staircases called houses A to N It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building 2 A Latin inscription on the exterior of the dining hall dedicated the hall to Henry Herbert nbsp Downside House once the Warden s Lodge now temporary staff accommodation 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 that used to be displayed in the Warden s House at Wills but which is now in the university s Special Collections Department 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 3 The initial quadrangle sufficed until rising student numbers precipitated the building of a further accommodation block an L shaped configuration of three linked houses X Y and Z which was opened in 1961 Another expansion in 1990 included a further accommodation block arranged on three floors U V and W which featured en suite rooms and a conference centre the better to place the university in the conference market which was becoming an important source of revenue 4 Together with X Y and Z houses the new development completed a quadrangle now known as New Quad the original accommodation being Old Quad Wills was founded as an all male institution and was the last hall to accept both sexes it went mixed in 1985 despite opposition from some traditionalists but with the enthusiastic support of most students In that year 70 women took up residence alongside 200 men and over the next few years the numbers of women residents rose quickly 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 5 Letters in reply followed the next week vigorously defending Wills 6 In 2008 a Harrow educated undergraduate at Wills Hall crashed a Mini Cooper in the grounds of the Hall while intoxicated 7 The 2012 BBC television film The Best of Men was filmed at Wills Hall Manor Hall and Goldney Hall in Bristol citation needed In 2017 there were allegedly incidents of drink spiking in the Hall s welcome week widely reported in the press None could be medically confirmed as spiking The Warden and other pastoral staff responded quickly and firmly and no further incidents were reported 8 9 10 In December 2017 the university announced a new model for pastoral support in the residences which included the abolition of the posts of Warden Deputy Warden and Student Support Adviser The decision to implement a new system of pastoral care generated significant controversy reflected in the national and local press partly in the light of Bristol University s regrettable record of student suicides The first proposals by the university were modified in February 2018 Students resident in Wills Hall were very prominent in the debate surrounding the changes leading on a petition that secured thousands of signatures and publishing in student and national newspapers No action was taken by the university in response to this petition 11 12 13 Facilities edit nbsp The Old Quad in the snow nbsp Back of Old Quad as seen from the Cedar Lawn Wills Hall has a bar that is open once a week and staffed by students and former residents The bar also hosts JCR quizzes film nights sports broadcasts and other events There are theme nights including alcohol free events Bond Night and a White Party for the whole hall The Monica Wills Chapel was opened in 1930 It hosts a number of services a week e g evensong compline for students from all the Stoke Bishop halls usually on Friday evenings during term time and there are well attended Christmas and Armistice events It is also used to stage plays and concerts and houses a grand piano and a harpsichord as well as a fully refurbished organ Wills Hall has an oak panelled dining room often likened to that of an Oxbridge college and the Hall s architect Sir George Oatley deliberately took inspiration from the proportions and styles of certain Oxford Colleges when making his designs The Hall houses tennis and squash courts that are shared with the other halls on the Stoke Bishop Site there is a croquet lawn used for an annual croquet tournament the Morton Relph cup a table tennis room and an oak panelled billiard room The billiard room was constructed when Downside House was extended in the late 19th century and the fireplace still has the original De Morgan tiles Motto editOver 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 Societies and clubs edit nbsp Barneys Club Crest The discussion club Barneys named after a brand of tobacco that rivalled the Wills products was founded in December 1931 and is still active with fortnightly speaker meetings on Sundays in term time Historically club meetings or meets consisted of a member presenting a topic of interest while other students relax over glasses of port and smoke pipes 14 15 The Barneys Club traditionally holds an annual dinner at which a distinguished guest delivers a speech The Hall s theatrical society the Wills Hall Amateur Theatrical Society WHATS performs musicals plays and variety shows for audiences from the Stoke Bishop halls and beyond Recent productions include Jez Butterworth s Jerusalem in 2016 Wills Hall used to publish its own newsletter The Executor which was edited by students in hall and was published several times a year This was the successor to the Wills Hall Loo Sheet a newsletter that took its name from the fact that it was distributed by being posted in all communal lavatories around the hall In 2015 a satirical newspaper called The Oracle was published for two issues before being shut down 16 Wardens editThere have been ten Wardens of Wills Hall the last being made redundant in August 2018 a year short of the Hall s 90th anniversary Harry Norton Matthews 1929 1935 Richard Keigwin 1935 1945 Oliver Kendall 1945 1959 John Sloane 1959 1973 Arthur Graves 1973 1982 17 Sean Gill 1982 1991 Phyllida Parsloe 1991 1997 18 Donald Shell 1997 2009 Julian Rivers 2009 2015 19 Robert Vilain 2015 2018 Notable sub wardens include the British grammarian historian and archaeologist Arthur Basil Cottle FSA and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics Cecil Frank Powell FRS Notable former students editJames Blunt musician 20 Derren Brown illusionist 21 Henry Chilver Baron Chilver FRS Engineer and former Vice Chancellor of Cranfield University Sir Liam Donaldson former Chief Medical Officer for England Peter Estlin 691st Lord Mayor of London 2018 2019 David Gibbins author Peter Haggett geographer and academic Bob Marshall Andrews KC MP Labour 22 Laura Tomlinson Olympic gold medalist team dressage Georgie Twigg Olympic gold medalist hockey Eboni Usoro Brown international netball player Stephen Williams MP Liberal Democrat Lord Boateng CVO PC DL Labour Party MP Dr Michael Wong Pakshong Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of SingaporeReferences edit https thetab com uk bristol 2017 12 20 confirmed wardens set to be axed in the biggest hall changes in bristols history 31736 Wills Hall historicengland org uk Retrieved 13 March 2007 M J Crossley Evans 1994 A History of Wills Hall University of Bristol University of Bristol ISBN 0 86292 421 9 Index Communications Meeting Services Newsletter PDF Index Communications Meeting Services Archived from the original PDF on 30 September 2007 Retrieved 18 March 2006 Amelia Hill 9 March 2003 Inside a university challenged The Guardian London Retrieved 18 March 2006 Positive discrimination Don t insult me The Guardian London 16 March 2003 Retrieved 18 March 2006 Leach Ben 29 October 2008 Student wrecks Mini in Italian Job prank The Daily Telegraph London Archived from the original on 1 November 2008 Reporters Telegraph 21 September 2017 Drink spiking spate at Bristol University during Freshers Week investigated by police The Telegraph via www telegraph co uk There s been a worrying spate of drink spiking at Bristol University The Independent 22 September 2017 University of Bristol students warned of drink spikings BBC News 21 September 2017 Bristol University s plans to scrap wardens in halls revised after protests BBC News 21 February 2018 Bristol University urged to rethink plans to scrap live in pastoral care the Guardian 24 December 2017 Yong Michael 21 December 2017 Plans to cut wardens at Bristol Uni halls could risk student lives BristolLive Hill Amelia 9 March 2003 Inside a university challenged TheGuardian com Barney s Club willshallassociation org Zodas Livi 12 February 2015 Cringe pamphlet saying Northerners have AIDS and fat people are diseased distributed in Wills Hall The Bristol Tab Retrieved 17 May 2020 Arthur Graves Warden 1973 1982 Wills Hall Association Archived from the original on 30 March 2019 UWE AWARDS HONORARY DEGREE TO PHYLLIDA PARSLOE UWE Bristol News Releases info uwe ac uk Professor Julian Rivers Our People www bristol ac uk https www willshallassociation org wills alumni https www youtube com watch v wRi97U3SApY https www willshallassociation org committee wills hall associationExternal links editWills Hall Accommodation Office website Wills Hall Association Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Wills Hall amp oldid 1210993346, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.