Sep 26

Sep 26 Bretton Hall College

The old Experimental Theatre building with its mask in the performance area. Through the entrance gate is the Stable Block, whose clock pokes up above the buildings.

There was an arts college in the middle of Yorkshire Sculpture Park?

Many people are surprised that there was a teacher training and arts college in the middle of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. How did there come to be so many modernist buildings in this incredible landscape? Can you imagine how amazing it would have been to study here? Why didn’t I know this was an option when I was looking through Higher Education prospectuses?

But it’s the other way round: the sculpture park exists precisely because of Bretton Hall College.

How the whole estate (dating from the 12th Century) came to be in the hands of the West Riding Council is the familiar tale of British aristocratics struggling with the upkeep of their huge ancestral homes in the 20th Century: by 1935, the Beaumonts who owned the estate had started selling off parts of their land. Then, in 1939, the army took up residence as World War II broke out, and the family moved to their Northumberland home, never to return.

In 1946, the educationalist Alec Clegg, Chief Education Officer at the county council, asked the Ministry of Education to approve a new college. Originally, it was thought up as “a training college for men with a musical bias”, but its remit expanded to become a teacher training college for Art, Drama and Music.

So it was that when the army finally left in 1947, the West Riding of Yorkshire bought up the hall, its lodges, its lakes and 260 acres of land for a snip at £34,024 (around £1.4 million in today’s money).

The college opened on 25th September 1949. Its occupants consisted of the principal, six tutors (in Education, English, Art, Music and PE) and 56 students (26 women and 30 men).

Despite continually shaky finances, the college developed: by 1963 there were clusters of modernist buildings all across the site, including eleven “hostels” as accommodation for up to 300 students. Shortly after, the college became affiliated with the University of Leeds for the purpose of awarding degrees.

The architect’s plan for the 1963 development. Click to expand.

It was in 1977 that the sculpture park came to be. Peter Murray, an art lecturer at the college, proposed letting sculptural artists interact with the open air, and for the estate to be open to the public for the first time in its history: the beautiful grounds became a vast performance space for sculpture.

While the sculpture park grew in renown, financial difficulties plagued the college, eventually leading to a merger with the University of Leeds in 2001 that was the beginning of the end: within another few years, it was deemed that the college wasn’t viable. It was put up for sale in 2004, and the last teaching took place on 2nd May, 2007. The buildings were then left to rot until major demolition work began in 2017. Here are the structures that remain:

I’ve drawn round what remains of the college buildings today. Buildings in blue were constructed since 1963 and are still on site. Most of the roads and pathways remain, and there are some extra, but the lake in front of the Victor Pasmore Studio ha… — I’ve drawn round what remains of the college buildings today. Buildings in blue were constructed since 1963 and are still on site. Most of the roads and pathways remain, and there are some extra, but the lake in front of the Victor Pasmore Studio has long gone. Click to expand.

There was uncertainty about the fate of the sculpture park after the college’s closure, but the whole site is now in the hands of Wakefield Council. The buildings that remain are now leased to Rushbond Plc, who are planning to turn the hall into a luxury hotel with restaurants, bars, a spa and conference facilities on site.

The exception is the National Arts Education Archive, which is right in the middle of the campus. It’s because this important library and archive is still in use (with occasional exhibitions) that it’s quite easy to gain access to the site: the gap in the fence is literally signposted. However, there are no signs once you’re in, so it’s not our fault that we ended up exploring.

The Victor Pasmore Studio is at the top of the site.

The studio was opened by the artist Victor Pasmore himself in 1993.

Steps link the studios to the theatre block and its performance area. Through the arch is the quadrant of the stable block. Beyond, the beautiful surrounding hills.

On the right is the giant Performance Building which replaced College Hall. I can find no other information about it. Maybe it’s been disavowed by everyone who knows about it since its unspeakably ugly.

The performance area outside Experimental Theatre. Alongside the steps, the slabs would have formed staged seating on the bank, creating an amphitheatre. The site has been so long abandoned that it seems the signs of early attempts to tend to it have become archaeological relics themselves.

I’m a big fan of the giant mask. Where it was hung and what those wires are for, I have no idea.

The walkway to the Stable Block is full of supports.

The original Stable Block walkway looks towards the early-60s library (and bin).

Double doors with checked-glass panes: here to transport you back to the eduational establishments of the late 80s and early 90s.

The sadly decaying Faculty of Arts.

A bollard, an owl relief, some security barriers, and the fantastically Modern library.

Library and Learning and peeling paint.

The magnificent stilts of the library, with a glimpse of the National Arts Education Archive building through the fence.

The Stable Block and its grassy quadrant still look impressive.

The building named after the college’s founder, Sir Alec Clegg. The words of a poem (‘Not By Bread Alone’ by James Terry White) that Clegg always had on his office wall are inscribed in the side of the building: “If thou of fortune be bereft, / And of thine earthly store have left / Two loaves—sell one, and with the dole / Buy hyacinths to feed the soul.”

Paint peeling inside the Stable Block, with an excellent reflection of the buildings opposite.

The library buildings, which I adore, and an overgrown shrubbery.

The impressive exterior of the Stable Block.

This small section of the old dining hall remains, for some reason, though it was planned for demolition.

Around the corner, looking down the length of the dining hall fragment that is left, straight towards ‘the mansion’ i.e. Bretton Hall itself.

All of the hostels were meant to be demolished, but at a late stage, Grasshopper was saved. You can just see the badge above the door: a grasshopper relief. Each of the hostels had such a badge, which have all been saved. At one point, the column stood in the middle of a paved square.

The northern face of the Grade II listed mansion, which dates back to the 18th Century. Evidently, a more modern extension has been removed.

The wasteland of demolition. From left to right, there’s the Alec Clegg Building, the Stable Block, and the remaining scrap of dining hall.

Looking West along the back of the mansion.

The remains of a passageway that linked the Alec Clegg building to Art (I think, perhaps). This platform now just comes to an abrupt end.

The back of the library. On the left is the purpose-built Lawrence Batley Centre that houses the National Arts Education Archive, which is still in use. The NAEA began life in 1985 in the attic of the mansion.

Detail of the lighting within the library.

This part of the building used to project right into the courtyard.

Bins through the ages, sitting amongst the preserved paving slabs and rosebay willow herb.

I like the details here: an original door or windowframe is just visible behind the brick; the electrical sockets still remain on the second floor; there are bookcases and shelves and radiators.

Textures and bricks and pipes.

A first floor door to nowhere. For whatever reason, this 1963 extension to the back of the mansion has been deemed fit to remain.

Another view of the NAEA. In the foreground, part of a building that couldn’t look more like a 50s toilet block if it tried.

A lovely old, 50s lamppost, just around the corner of the mansion.

There are at least three or four different eras of architecture here, around the Western side of the mansion.

Doors leading to doors.

Down to the basement.

A window on the East side of Bretton Hall - even here, the interiors have been well-neglected.

A slightly closer view of the column and its decoration. Is mowing the grass a priority at this point? Apparently so.

The secondary door.

A bell and a blocked up window.

I was intrigued by this strange little external staircase. That rightmost window can’t possibly have got planning permission, can it?

Bretton Hall’s grand main entrance with its four Doric columns.

Even the drainpipes are ornate. The creature is the griffin that appeared on the various coats of arms of members of the Wentworth family.

The main doors are not very impressive.

Cherubim. Unavoidable.

A glimpse of Grasshopper, the sole remaining hostel. The way is blocked off by hundreds of stacks of paving slabs.

The exit.

The South face of Bretton Hall, overlooking the estate.

It’s quite a nice view.

Links and Sources

Some alumni of Bretton Hall College have set up a very comprehensive website, which is bursting with information and pictures. There you can find everything from a timeline of Bretton Hall from 1158 to 1949, to videos of previous students visiting the decaying hostels in 2013 (some four years before they were finally demolished).

You can find out more about the history of Yorkshire Sculpture Park on their website, along with some up to date information about the National Arts Education Archive.

Famous Bretton Hall Alumni

It would be remiss of me not to mention that the the acting contingent of the League of Gentlemen (Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith — Jeremy Dyson was studying in Leeds) all went to Bretton Hall College.

Other notable alumni include the educationalist, Sir Ken Robinson, who died this August, the comedian and activist Mark Thomas, the playwright John Godber, lots of actors who have starred in a whole variety of British soap operas, and RICHARD O’BRIEN.

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