University of Wales, Lampeter Information

University of Wales, Lampeter (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, Llanbedr Pont Steffan) was a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822, and given its royal charter in 1828, it was the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales, with degree awarding powers since 1852, and the fourth oldest institution of higher learning in England and Wales after the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham (founded as a university in 1832). St. Davids was a college. In 2010 it merged with Trinity University College (under its 1828 charter) to create the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The university was founded as St Davids College (Coleg Dewi Sant), becoming St Davids University College (Coleg Prifysgol Dewi Sant) in 1971, when it became part of the federal University of Wales. With fewer than 2,000 students on campus, it was often claimed to be one of the smallest public universities in Europe.

When Thomas Burgess was appointed Bishop of St Davids in 1803, he saw a need for a college in which Welsh ordinands could receive a higher education. The existing colleges at Oxford and Cambridge were out of the geographical and financial means of most would-be students.

Burgess had no Welsh connections; he was born in England in 1756 and, after Winchester and Oxford, he had short stays in Salisbury and Durham before being appointed to his first bishopric in Wales in 1803. Burgess intended to build his new college to train priests in Llanddewi Brefi which, at the time, was similar in size to Lampeter but ten kilometres from it and with an honoured place in the Christian history of Wales. When Burgess was staying with his friend the Bishop of Gloucester in 1820, however, he met John Scandrett Harford, a wealthy landowner from Gloucestershire, who donated the three acre (12,000 m²) site called Castle Field in Lampeter, so called for the Norman castle once contained in the field. This is the site on which the present University stands.

St Davids College was thus founded just outside Lampeter in 1822. Burgess left St. Davids in 1825 to become Bishop of Salisbury but work on the college continued, largely supervised by Harford. The £16,000 required to erect the college had been raised from public donations, a government grant and highly publicised gifts, including one from King George IV. The main college building was completed in 1827 and the college officially opened on St. Davids Day of that year, welcoming its first 26 students. As such, it was the oldest institution of higher education in Wales, and the third oldest in England and Wales, receiving its first charter in 1828. In 1852, the college gained the right to award the degree of Bachelor of Divinity (BD) and, in 1865, the degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA), long before the other colleges in Wales gained their own degree awarding powers. As early as 1865, when a campaign had commenced to establish a University for Wales, there were suggestions that the College should take on this function. However, they was opposed by those who believe it should retain its original purpose as a theological college.

Although it continued as a centre of clergy training until 1978, there was always a proportion of students who did not intend to be ordained. The 1896 charter specifically stated that the college could accept anyone, regardless of whether they intended to take Holy Orders and, since 1925, it had been possible to study for a BA at the college without studying any theology at all. Throughout the colleges history, non-ordinands had been in a minority. In the 1950s however, the number of ordinands declined sharply and the College faced possible closure unless it could secure government funding. Principal J.R. Lloyd Thomas did not spare himself in the fight for survival and, in 1960, after much negotiation, University College, Cardiff, agreed to sponsor Saint Davids. Thus the government finally began to assist SDC financially.

In 1971, the college became a member of the federal University of Wales and suspended its own degree-awarding powers. It became St Davids University College (SDUC). By this time, the college had begun shifting its specialisms and, whilst theology continued to be a strong point, students could choose from a much wider range of liberal arts subjects. In 1996, the Privy Council—in response to a petition from the University—agreed to change its title again to the University of Wales, Lampeter in line with moves elsewhere in the University and the recognition of its growth and changing status. In September 2007, the University of Wales become confederal rather than federal in nature, effectively giving Lampeter independent university status. Unlike other former Wales colleges however, the institutions name remained unchanged.

The university specialised in Theology, Religious Studies, philosophy, Classics, Anthropology, Archaeology, English and History. Prior to the merger, the university was also growing in disciplines from the liberal arts and social sciences such as Film and Media Studies, Information Society Studies, Business Management, Chinese Studies and Voluntary Sector Studies. However, in the last two decades several other departments which taught subjects in their own right closed, notably French, German and Geography.

The university had research and consultancy departments, including the Centre for Beliefs and Values, Centre for Enterprise, European and Extension Services, Archaeological Services and the Centre for the Study of Religion in Celtic Societies.

In the early 1990s, there also existed an influential Human geography department at the college. This was closed in 2001 but the diaspora of the Lampeter Geography School continue to have an influence on their field.

In 2008, the Quality Assurance Agency concluded that, although the quality of Lampeters degrees were satisfactory, they had limited confidence in the institutions quality assurance procedures and systems. Further to this assessment, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales commissioned a further report which found "very real problems of leadership and management" at the university. As a direct result, on 14 December 2008, the university announced that it was in merger talks with Trinity College, Carmarthen with the intention of forming a new university in Wales. In July 2010, it was announced that the Queen had approved an order granting a supplemental charter to Lampeter which would create the new University of Wales, Trinity Saint David and which would accept its first students in September 2010 at which time the University of Wales, Lampeter would formally cease to exist.

C.R. Cockerell designed the original college, now called the Saint Davids Building (Old Building or OB by students) in the centre of the Campus. It is a Grade II* listed building and contains lecture rooms, common rooms, administrative offices, student residential accommodation and the following three main areas:

The Old Hall was the refectory until the Lloyd Thomas Building came into use in 1969. It fell into disuse until 1991, when it opened after much restoration to be used as one of the main public rooms for meetings, dinners, conferences and use by outside organisations. It was also used for some examinations.

The Old Hall also contains paintings of various principals, presidents, benefactors, vice-chancellors et al. including Bishop Burgess, Maurice Jones, Thomas Price, Bishop Thomas Burgess, Llewelyn Lewellin, Edward Harold Browne, Keith Robbins and Brian Robert Morris.

St Davids Chapel was consecrated in 1827. In 1879, it was rebuilt according to the specifications of the architect Thomas Graham Jackson of Cambridge. It re-opened on 24 June 1880. It was then refurbished again during the 1930s, mainly through the provision of a new reredos in 1933 and a major overhaul of the organ in 1934. The chapel was provided with a dedicated chaplain and services were held on Sundays and throughout the week as well as on saints days and major festivals.

The Founders Library was the main library until the new library opened in 1966. After this time the library housed the Universitys oldest printed books (1470–1850) and manuscripts (the earliest being from the thirteenth century), given to Lampeter from 1822 onwards, as well as the archives of the university. It is a priceless collection unique to Lampeter. Named after its founders – Thomas Burgess (1756–1837), Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), and Thomas Phillips (1760–1851) – it served as a resource for research and teaching, particularly in English, History and Mediaeval Studies. In 2005, it was announced that a new £700,000 library building was to be built on campus to house the universitys manuscripts, as the Founders Library was not environmentally suitable for such valuable documents. This extension to the main library was completed in 2008.

The Canterbury Building was built to house a growing number of students at the end of the 19th century. The foundation stone was laid by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1885 and the building was officially opened on 24 June 1887. It contained a physical science laboratory, two lecture rooms and new accommodation. However, structural problems forced the university to demolish the original building in the summer of 1971. The second Canterbury Building was opened on 20 October 1973 by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent. It was demolished, and replaced with the present Canterbury Building, during the 2012–13 academic year.

The Main Library was opened on 7 July 1966 by the then Chancellor of the University of Wales, HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. It was extended and then reopened by the Prince of Wales on 21 June 1984.

The Arts Building was opened by The Rt. Hon Peter Thomas, Secretary of State for Wales on 4 October 1971, in time for it to house the new Geography department. The Archaeology and Anthropology department has since moved into the ground floor of the building, the first floor being shared by the Department of Film and Media and the Department of Management and I.T. The building now houses the new combined A.H.A (Archaeology, History and Anthropology) department.

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