Lonsdale College, Lancaster

Lonsdale College is a constituent college of the University of Lancaster, UK. It was one of the two founding colleges, originally built when the university first opened in 1964. It is also one of the largest colleges on campus in terms of Junior Common Room membership, with over 1,200 undergraduates. Like most other colleges in the university, the college is named after a region of the traditional county of Lancashire. The college takes its name from the Lonsdale area, the valley of the River Lune.

For the fictional Oxford college in the books by Colin Dexter, see Inspector Morse.

Lonsdale College
University of Lancaster
Location	Alexandra Park
Motto	"Simply the best"
Established	1964
Named for	Lonsdale Hundred
Principal	Vicki Mathews
Dean	Andy Smith
Undergraduates	1,400
Website	College; JCR

History

The old college quadrangle, given to Bowland College in 2004

The College was originally located in what is now Bowland North to the north of Alexandra Square. The college was designed in tandem with Bowland and was in fact designed as a mirror image of it.[1]

In 2004 the college moved, along with Cartmel College to some of the newly built buildings to the south of the main campus in Alexandra Park. Its original buildings were transferred to the other founding college, Bowland, and became known as Bowland North.

Facilities

Lonsdale college has a bar called The Red Lion, a computer lab, a study room, and a launderette.

Residences

Just over half of the college's students live in college at any one time. Other Lonsdale students live in Lancaster city centre. The residential buildings housing the college's entirely en-suite accommodation are named after places in the Lonsdale area. Residential buildings are reallocated from year to year for administrative convenience so which are Lonsdalian ones is subject to change each year.

Governance

Lonsdale College

The College is established under the Statutes of the University. Internally, the key committee which runs the College is the College Syndicate.

The College Principal is Dan Barcroft. The Senior Advisor is Laura McGowan, and the Dean is Andy Smith.

Current student president is Manon Williams, as of 2020.

College Symbols

An heraldic "leopard" (the name given in heraldry to a lion "passant guardant", i.e., walking from right to left with face turned towards the viewer) features in the official Lonsdale college logo. The college colours are observed in the college scarf and are: blue, white, red and grey.

Junior Common Room

The Junior Common Room consists of all Lonsdalion undergraduates. The term JCR is often used in reference to the junior common room's elected executive committee. The executive committee undertake a variety of tasks, ranging from organising social events to co-ordinating sports, producing publicity and offering an education and welfare service. The JCR publishes 'Purple Lonnie', currently named ROAR, the college magazine. The origin of the magazine's name relates to an episode when one of the parents of a member of the JCR executive worked for the company that penned the Purple Ronnie poems. On being asked to pen a Purple Ronnie poem for Lonsdale, the poem came back signed Purple Lonnie.

Social Events

Lonsdale College supports academic study, providing facilities including a quiet study room and a computer room. Sport is central to College life, with a number of successful college sports teams, including football and netball. Both the first and second Lonsdale Football teams won their respective collegiate leagues in 2017/18. Lonsdale was the first winner of the inter-college Rugby sevens cup in 1969. It continues this success in the annual Founders sports competition against Bowland College, and in the Carter Shield competitions. Students can use the Senior Common Room for music practice, and a number of clubs and societies regularly meet in the college. Lonsdale College also has a long-standing reputation for holding some of the best attended social events on campus.

References

1. Origins and growth