Bodington Hall

Bodington Hall was the largest hall of residence of the University of Leeds, in Leeds, England. It was opened in 1961 and closed in 2013. The site still contains the university's main playing fields.[1] Known as Bod within the university, it was located between Lawnswood and Adel, approximately 4 miles north of the main campus. Bodington was used mainly to house first year undergraduate students. Out of term, it was used for conferences and sporting activities such as WorldNET, the Internet Football Association's annual tournament,[2][3] and from 1994 to 2012 it was the venue for the International Medieval Congress (IMC).[4]

Main administrative block with reception, dining hall etc.

The site opened in October 1961,[5] and was completed by 1963.[6] The following year architect Denis Mason-Jones won the Leeds Gold Medal for his design.[7] The hall was named after Sir Nathan Bodington, the first Vice Chancellor of the university.[8] Bodington was originally an all-male hall, with Woodsley, Vaughan, Hay and Seton Houses becoming mixed at the start of the academic year 1976 and the other four following later. For that year the Woodsley student president was Chris Snowden, later Professor Sir Christopher Snowden, vice chancellor of the University of Surrey and subsequently the University of Southampton. A large decorative panel in aluminium by the sculptor Hubert Dalwood was installed on the exterior of the refectory and was Grade II listed in 2012.[9][10][11]

The self-catering flats were opened in September 1992.

The academic year 2011/12 was the last year that students lived a full year in the halls although a smaller group of students, including late accommodation applications and students from Clearing, were allowed to stay in the halls for the first term of 2012/13. Bodington Hall was officially closed in January 2013, and demolished to enable housing to be built on the site.[12][13]

Accommodation

Bodington had 640 single study bedrooms and 100 self-catering flats each of 5 bedrooms with shared facilities.[14][15]

List of houses
Bragg House, one of the newer blocks
1960s style flats

Catered[16]

Self-catering[16]

(renamed in 1999 after former members of University staff)[18]

  • Bragg
  • Evans
  • Lattimore
  • Mackey
  • McClurkin
  • Walsh
  • Whewell

Facilities

The site's sports facilities included squash courts, snooker room and football and rugby fields.

Hubert Dalwood mural relief
Hubert Dalwood mural, 2009

In 1959 Denis Mason-Jones of Jones & Stocks (the architects for Bodington Hall) commissioned Hubert Dalwood to create a mural relief for the refectory building of Bodington Hall. The untitled work consisting of 36 aluminum squares which form a large rectangular panel was completed and installed in 1962. It was Grade II listed in 2012 for several reasons, partly because it is the first large mural relief by Dalwood, a leading British post-war sculptor, and also because of the use of materials and aesthetic quality of the work. As an example of commissioned public artworks it was considered to be of historic interest.[11] After the Hall was demolished in 2013 the mural was taken down and moved to the stage@leeds building on the University of Leeds campus in 2016.[19]

Oil spill

On 29 March 1999, at least 10,000 litres of fuel oil overflowed from a storage tank on the site and caused environmental damage, notably to Meanwood Beck.[20]

gollark: Not that I stopped, but gibson still complained.
gollark: I do that, but Gibson complained.
gollark: Most shells are similarly bad about this.
gollark: It's generally beneficial to not not handle errors.
gollark: Those are bad things.

References
  1. University of Leeds Accommodation Archived 21 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. IFA WorldNET
  3. Meet in Leeds – Bodington Hall Archived 28 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. O'Daly, Irene (20 July 2012). "Leeds International Medieval Congress 2012: A Survivor's Guide". medievalfragments. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  5. Leodis – a photographic archive of Leeds – Display
  6. "Campus Healthy Walk: Historical Timeline". Archived from the original (PPT) on 20 September 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2007.
  7. Meadowcroft, Michael (22 March 2010). "Denis Mason Jones: Architect and artist noted for his pictorial maps of British cities". The Independent. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  8. Leodis – a photographic archive of Leeds – Display
  9. Twentieth Century Society listings reports February 2013.
  10. fineart.ac.uk Panel at Bodington Hall by Hubert Dalwood
  11. Historic England. "Hubert Dalwood Mural Relief  (Grade II) (1412199)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  12. Yorkshire Evening Post 30 January 2013 University of Leeds plans homes at closed hall of residence
  13. "Remediation: Boddington Hall, Leeds". Professional Group. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016.
  14. Meet in Leeds Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine Bodington Hall
  15. Leeds University Accommodation Archived 21 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine Bodington Hall
  16. Leeds Accommodation Archived 11 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine Your Bod
  17. Leeds and Bradford Street Atlas. Sevenoaks, Kent: Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. 1993. p. 25. These buildings shown on a map
  18. Leeds Reporter Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine 24 May 1999
  19. "Celebrating Dalwood". 17 May 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  20. McDonald, Adrian (26 July 1999). "An Appraisal of the Oil Spill that occurred at Bodington Hall on 29th March 1999". The Reporter. University of Leeds. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015..
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