Halls of Residence

Several floors on the East and West wings of Founders were used for female accommodation. The rooms varied in size with an assortment of single and double occupancy. The majority had magnificent views, with the sports fields to the west and an impressive conifer to the east. Others overlooked the North and South Quads, with some corner rooms boasting a rather lovely raised rounded window  area, much too spacious to be referred to as merely a sill.

Cameron Hall, the testosterone centre of the campus with its long corridors, turrets and occasional peace. Some of the rooms had balconies and the ground floor rooms provided an easy escape when the corridors were too narrow to negotiate.

It was opened in 1970 as a men's hall of residence (at the same time as Athlone) and became a mixed hall in 1987

Athlone was the women's hall in the residential area of the campus. It was opened in 1970 (probably looking a lot cleaner than in this picture). It housed a large common room area, buttery and a dining hall that served both Cameron and Athlone, and Williamson when that was opened in 1973. The internal corridors were gloomy, narrow and long with various turrets providing smaller groups of rooms. It was demolished in 2006, so lasted only half as long as those still alive who were its first residents.

With the arrival of male undergraduates in 1965 the college needed somewhere to put them. The 18th century mansion was purchased in 1964 and bought into use for the 1965 intake. This men’s hall was relatively isolated from the main campus being about a mile away through residential streets and lanes. The route generally took one past a local hostelry called The Happy Man which could add an hour on to the journey if you meandered in rather than past it. 

Williamson, the newest of the old halls, was first opened in 1973-4. Like Athlone and Cameron, its architecture can be described as 'brutalist', a style typical of the era and noticeably different from the chateau-like Founder's building and the attractive mansion style of Kingswood.

Other accommodation included “Glanty” – oft talked about but rarely seen- and the “married quarters" (whose name I forget - was it Highfields). Some second year students also spent time in local flats and other accommodation – so let’s hear some tales about what it used to be like to live out of halls and actually doing your own catering.

Highfield Court was acquired by the College in 1948 and was used initially for staff accommodation and for tennis courts (for staff use). It was the main house on the Highfield Estate where the A30 meets the road into Englefield Green. It was surrounded by 8 acres of land. It came into student use at the beginning of the 70s (possibly end of the 60s - please leave a comment below if you know) and was used for married students.

I can find no picture of Elm Lodge nor many references to it anywhere but I did have a message from Pete Bishop to say

"Before living in Cameron I lived here from September 1969-June 1970 this was a house for about 12 (men only)in the grounds of botanical gardens. This was very near to the 'Happy Man Pub'in Englefield Green.
Had some great times here. Really interesting when we emptied the contents of a fellow students room into the cellar where there were very interesting items of female graffitti from the days of a womens only college :-) the bish"

So this was another building on the north side of the A30 but 'who else has any stories they can share, and does anyone, anywhere have a picture?

Penrose Court was built as an estate of accommodation blocks to house the increasing number of students coming to Royal Holloway. Work began in 1983 to build Penrose Court on land previously part of the Highfield Estate and covering much of the land that had formed part of the Highfield Estate. The development consisted of self-catering houses and flats for 200+ students with each of the units housing between four and six single accommodation rooms with shared bathrooms and kitchens.

Reid Hall was the first of the accommodation buildings to be put up after the Bedford merger. They were completed in 1986 and provided a total of 188 study bedrooms over three 3-story blocks. They were built on land near Athlone, Cameron and Williamson.

Runnymede Hall comprises of eight buildings and was built over two phases. Phase 1 with 4 buildings offering a total of 252 study-bedrooms arranged in groups of six was opened in 1992. The second phase with a further 4 buildings providing 211 en-suite study bedrooms and double bedrooms for married students opened in 1996.

Gowar and Wedderburn Halls were opened in 2005. These were built to a much higher standard that Reid Halls. Each room had a double bed (though single occupation rooms) as well as an en-suite shower room and toilet. Gowar has 215 student bedrooms and Wedderburn 352. The buildings housed athletes for the London 2012 Olympics and alumni who attended the 2010 RHC70s reunion.

After the demolition of the bulk of Athlone & Cameron Halls (the old dining halls and common rooms, as well as some of the bedrooms above these in Athlone remain) Butler and Tuke Halls were put up to replace them. 

The Williamson Hall, first opened in 1973, was also demolished and replaced with a new Williamson Hall.

The George Eliot Halls are not so much a hall of residence but a complete student Estate. Built on the north side of the A30 in the grounds of Elm Lodge and The Chestnuts. The estate is made up of about 15 buildings. Each building is a modern townhouse and they offer more space for relaxing and socialising than other halls, including a lounge area and a kitchen.