Whiteknights Park

Whiteknights Park, or the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, is the principal campus of that university. The park covers the area of the manor of Earley Whiteknights, also known as Earley St Nicholas and Earley Regis.

Whiteknights Park is some two miles south of the centre of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The park is 1.23 km² in size and includes lakes, conservation meadows and woodlands as well as being home to most of the university's academic departments and several halls of residence.Ordnance Survey (2006). "OS Explorer Map 159 - Reading". ISBN 0-319-23730-3.]

History

The site was the home of John De Erleigh II, the famous foster-son of the Regent of England, William Marshal, but takes its name from the nickname of his great grandson, the 13th century knight, John De Erleigh IV, the 'White Knight'. The De Erleigh (or D'Earley) family were owners of this manor for some two hundred years before 1365. St. Thomas Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford and advisor to King Edward I, was allowed to live there briefly during the 1270s. In 1606 the estate was purchased by the nephew of Sir Francis Englefield, following the confiscation of Englefield House and its estates in 1585. The Englefield family in turn sold the estate to George Spencer, the Marquis of Blandford, in 1798.David Nash Ford (2001). [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/whiteknights_park.html Royal Berkshire History - Whiteknights Park] . Retrieved July 1, 2005.]

Between 1798 and 1819, the estate was the scene of vast extravagance and wild entertainments, all at the Marquis' expense. Splendid gardens were laid out, complete with the rarest of plants. In 1819, this man, by now the Duke of Marlborough, became bankrupt and moved to his family home at Blenheim Palace at Woodstock in Oxfordshire. The estate was sold off and the house was demolished in 1840, supposedly by a mob of the Duke's angry creditors.David Nash Ford (2001). [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/whiteknights_park.html Royal Berkshire History - Whiteknights Park] . Retrieved July 1, 2005.]

The land was broken up into six leasehold units in 1867 and a number of the new houses were designed by Alfred Waterhouse, including his own residence at Foxhill House and the smaller Whiteknights House (now called Old Whiteknights House) for his father.David Nash Ford (2001). [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/whiteknights_park.html Royal Berkshire History - Whiteknights Park] . Retrieved July 1, 2005.]

During the Second World War, part of the park closest to the Earley Gate entrance was used for 'temporary' government offices, and several ranges of these single story, brick built, corridor and spur buildings still stand. After the war, this area became home to the Region 6 War Room responsible for civil defence in south-central England. The resulting nuclear bunker constructed in the 1950s still stands in a little visited corner of the campus,cite web | title = Reading War Room - Region 6 | url = http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/r/reading/reading.html | publisher = Subterranea Britannica | accessmonthday=12 May | accessyear = 2006] although demolition has been proposed in the 2007 campus development plan.cite web | title = Whiteknights Development Plan | url = http://www.rdg.ac.uk/about/about-local.asp | publisher = University of Reading | accessdate = Nov 11 | accessyear = 2007]

Campus

The University of Reading was given Whiteknights Park in 1947,The University of Reading (2005). [http://www.extra.rdg.ac.uk/news/facts/history.htm History of the University] . Retrieved July 4, 2005.] and today it is the home of the university's administration, most of the academic departments and five halls of residence. The halls of residence (Bridges, Childs, Wessex Hall, Whiteknights, and Windsor) are all along Whiteknights Road and Upper Redlands Road sides of the campus, with their own vehicular access off those roads and with only pedestrian access to the core of the campus.

Along the Wilderness Road and Pepper Lane sides of the campus, the campus is screened from the outside by undeveloped woodland and by the Harris Garden, the university's botanical garden. The campus core is therefore only easily visible from outside in the area around the main entrance on the Shinfield Road and the adjacent Elmhurst Road.

The centre of the campus is bisected into two unequal halves by a chain of lakes which are crossed by several pedestrian bridges but with no vehicular link. To the west of the lakes can be found most of the academic departments, catering services, the university administration and the students union. With the exception of a couple of surviving Victorian residences, including Foxhill House, all of these are housed in purpose built buildings dating from the 1950s to the 2000s. The Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology and the Cole Museum of Zoology are both found in this area.

To the east of the lakes and surrounding conservation meadowland is the Earley Gate area of the campus. The second-world war era buildings here house the Reading Enterprise Hub, the Fine Art Department, the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication, and various service functions. More recent buildings, dating from the 1990s and 2000s, house the Department of Applied Statistics, the Department of Meteorology, and the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development. Also in this area can be found the Science & Technology Centre and the University Atmospheric Observatory.

Although the campus is much closer to the centre of Reading than it is to that of Wokingham, the boundary between the unitary authorities of Reading and Wokingham meanders across the campus in a rather unpredictable fashion. The campus is split about one third to Reading, two thirds to Wokingham.Ordnance Survey (2006). "OS Explorer Map 159 - Reading". ISBN 0-319-23730-3.]

See also

* Leighton Park School
* Reading Half Marathon

References

External links

*oscoor|SU735718_region:GB_scale:100000|Map sources for Whiteknights Park.
* [http://www.rdg.ac.uk/maps/whiteknights-struct.htm Whiteknights page] from the University web site.