Wessex Lane Halls

Montefiore House 2 (Block F), as seen from the complex entrance, with Block J of Monte 3 behind.

Wessex Lane Halls is a halls of residence complex owned by the University of Southampton. It is situated in the Swaythling district of Southampton, approximately one mile north-east of the University campus in Highfield.

The complex is formed of South Stoneham House, Connaught Hall and Montefiore House. There are over 1800 undergraduate and postgraduate students living in Wessex Lane Halls.

The Halls operates a Wardenal system,^[1] where post graduate and mature students are employed to look after the halls and students. This group is often referred to as the Senior Common Room. The students organise their own social events, sports teams and deal with welfare issues through the JCR (Junior Common Room)committee which is elected each year. The bars are run by the students union.

The complex is served by excellent transport links, with regular Uni-link buses heading north to Southampton Airport (and Eastleigh at peak times) and south to Southampton City Centre and hourly trains from nearby Swaythling railway station.

South Stoneham House

The 16 storey extension to South Stoneham House.

South Stoneham House.

South Stoneham House was acquired, with South Hill (situated some two miles northwest of Wessex Lane), in 1920 to house male students at University College Southampton.^[2] It was originally the manor house of the Parish of South Stoneham, which stretched along the River Itchen from the Bargate in Southampton City Centre to Eastleigh. The house itself was constructed in 1708, as the family home of Edmund Dummer, the former Surveyor of the Navy, and has been attributed to Nicholas Hawksmoor,^[3] while its gardens were laid out after 1722 by Capability Brown^[4] (though very little of the original landscaping remains).

Tradition prevailed in the house, with a collegiate atmosphere as gowns were expected to be worn to dinner and lectures and curfews were enforced.

The South Stoneham regime was also 'distinctly paternalistic. A bell was rung at 5.45 each evening and everyone settled in silence to study until another bell two hours later released us for dinner. At 10 o'clock another bell called us to prayers. Half an hour later the warden came round to all the bedrooms to check that everyone was in bed.'

— Ernest Holmes, The University of Southampton, An Illustrated History^[2]

By 1924, there was distinct pressure on space in the halls of residence, and it was clear that more rooms were needed. The existing halls were full and so South Stoneham and South Hill were extended by covering their outbuildings.^[2]

During the Second World War, the Highfield location of the College meant it was directly in the war zone itself. With Southampton being attacked, the halls of residence were also under siege: at South Stoneham windows were blown in by bombs. For much of this time, the College operated a School of Navigation, based in the communal rooms of Stoneham House.^[2]

In 1964, a concrete tower extension was added to the hall, incorporating a bar and dining hall area, both now out of use. The extension was designed as a stop-gap measure until the full development of the Montefiore and Glen Eyre sites could be pushed through, with an anticipated lifespan of just 15 years. Four decades on and the tower has only recently been removed from the University's housing stock. South Stoneham currently has 180 rooms over its 16 floors, although the tower section is closed. As in Connaught residents are catered for and eat in Connaught's Galley Restaurant. Residents share small kitchen and bathroom facilities. Much controversy has surrounded the continuous use of South Stoneham Tower and in 1997 a large wooden collar was added to the base of the tower to prevent crumbling concrete falling onto staff and students below. As the tower was originally built using jack building techniques (i.e. the top story was constructed first, jacked up, and the next story added below) and made extensive use of asbestos, its decommission and deconstruction has provided a technical stumbling block to redevelopment of the South Stoneham site. Physical disassembly would be hugely expensive, while explosives cannot be used due to the proximity of private houses and the Grade II listed^[5] South Stoneham House.

In 2006 the first 6 floors were re-opened to accommodate an overflow of students.

Connaught Hall

Originally a boarding school^{[citation needed]}, it is now a listed building and part of the Wessex Lane Halls complex, clustered around the larger Montefiore halls development.

It is made up of two "quads" which consist of blocks of rooms arranged into squares with scenic gardens in the centres. The Old Quad, built in 1931^[6], is of traditional design in the neo-Georgian architecture style and contains study bedrooms grouped around staircases and most of the communal JCR facilities. The New Quad was added to this in 1964^[6] and contains the reception area and main building, the Galley Restaurant and the majority of study bedrooms. The Hall is set in a wooded grounds overlooking Monks Brook.

Facilities on offer within Connaught in addition to those at Montefiore halls include a large common room (larger than that at Glen Eyre)^{[citation needed]}, the largest ratio of space to number of residents within the University^{[citation needed]}, computer room, library, music room, snooker room, a restaurant which provides full catering for residents, gym, TV room, bar, BBQ area and laundry room.

Montefiore Houses

Montefiore House 3

Montefiore House 4 (Block X), the latest addition to the complex, with disabled access.

Around 1925 Mrs Montefiore, wife of Claude Montefiore, purchased a piece of land opposite South Stoneham House, and gave it to the House for a playing field. Claude Montefiore paid for a pavilion to be constructed on the land.

Montefiore House (often referred to as 'Monte') as a hall of residence was opened in 1966, built on the grounds of the sports field. These original structures are now known as Montefiore A and B, and house approximately three hundred first year students in study bedrooms on individual corridor flats, with shared kitchens and other facilities, ranged over 5 floors.

Over the next few decades two other developments took place which replaced the old playing fields with the largest student residential centre in Southampton. Montefiore 2 was built in 1977 and consists of self-contained flats housing 400 students in flats of seven rooms each with their own study bedroom.

Montefiore 3, the largest of the Monte groupings, was opened in September 1993 and houses some 600 students grouped in flats of seven each occupying a study bedroom with en-suite facilities. This addition made Monte the largest hall of residence in Europe (in terms of the number of students that can be accommodated) at the time. Although generally well built, sound insulation was left out, and noise has been an ineviatable problem.

Recently Montefiore 4 was added (replacing the link corridor and management offices between A and B blocks) which brings an additional 150 en-suite rooms, and disabled facilities to the complex.

Sports

Montefiore Hall has produced arguably the most successful sporting teams of any hall of residence in Southampton. Notably the Montefiore Exiles rugby club, made up of current and past residents of the hall. The club has a Veterans division of former players who have left university and organises an annual Old Boys' game where the current team play and invitational XV of Veterans. The club also is active in raising money for charity - the 2010/11 charities being a number of cancer causes in the south of England.

Montefiore is known for its rivalry with Connaught hall. However Montefiore has had the upper hand in almost all sporting encounters for most of the past two decades.

References

1. ^ Wessex Wardens. Accessed: 24 October 2007.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Nash, Sally; Sherwood, Martin (2002). The University of Southampton, An Illustrated History. James & James. ISBN 0-907383-94-7. 
3. ^ "South Stoneham House". The Willis Fleming Historical Trust. http://www.willisfleming.org.uk/estates/hants_and_iow/South_Stoneham_House. Retrieved 1 November 2009. 
4. ^ The Times, 13 Jun 1804
5. ^ Southampton City Council: Listed buildings in Southampton Accessed 17th September 2007.
6. ^ ^{a b} Wessex Lane – Connaught

Coordinates: 50°56′12″N 1°22′35″W / 50.93668°N 1.37651°W / 50.93668; -1.37651