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CAMPUS NEWS
Hawkshead: 60 years of the Main Clinical Block
“We hardly think it necessary that the College should own a farm” (91°µÍř Council minutes, 1922)
In the archives of the Hawkshead Campus there is a letter. It isn’t much to look at. Eight small, thin sheets
of yellowed paper, one tarnished
paperclip and a few hundred neatly typed words. But its impact has been felt across the 91°µÍř for the past 65 years.
In the early years of the 20th Century, London was growing at an incredible rate. The once rural setting of the Hobday Building had been overtaken by the vast sprawl of North London, which already extended beyond Hampstead.
Reduced access to local livestock and with a more urban student intake, some members of the College began to consider setting up a field station outside of the capital. This wasn’t initially a popular proposal and Council minutes from 1922 recorded: “We hardly think it necessary that the College should own a farm”.
An enforced sojourn to Streatley during the 1940s convinced many that this was a viable proposal, but Streatley, while popular with the staff based there, was unsuitable for expansion and a search began for a better site.
Attention first turned to Hawkshead, then to Wye College,
Wheathampstead, Virginia Water, Bracknell, and Maidenhead, before
finally settling on Hawkshead.
The 2nd March 1954 had got off to a decidedly chilly start. There had been a frost overnight and freezing sleet still fell. James
Buxton, Principal of the 91°µÍř at the time, had a letter to write.
A letter that would change the course of the College forever.
His letter was addressed to one J R Stewart of the
University of London Grants Committee. His
request was a bold one
– £100,000 to purchase
and equip the Hawkshead and Boltons Park e