- Putteridge Bury
Putteridge Bury is a
country house on the edge of the built-up area ofLuton ,Bedfordshire ,England but actually over the county boundary in the parish ofOffley inHertfordshire .Mansion
The mansion was built in the style of
Chequers by architects SirErnest George and Alfred Yeats and completed in 1911. The grounds were redesigned by Edwin L Lutyens, soon to be recognised as the foremost architect of the era, and planted byGertrude Jekyll , one of the first lady Victorian gardeners. Particular features are the reflective pool and massive yew hedges.Queen Mary and King George V often visited Putteridge Bury with the Prince of Wales and on
1 December 1926 the King planted anoak tree in the lawn to the south of the house.Park
The Putteridge estate is a mixture of arable farmland and woodland; as well as the occasional visiting
muntjac andfallow deer , the estate is home toLady Amherst's Pheasant ("Chrysolophus amherstiae") as well as the more common pheasant.History
In 1965 it was acquired by Luton Borough Council and opened as Putteridge Bury College of Education in 1966.
Following Government cutbacks during the 1970s Putteridge Bury ended its brief life as a teacher training centre and was merged with Luton Technical College to become the Luton College of Higher Education, in September 1978.
From 1985 the function rooms were gradually renovated to their original splendour and to conference centre standards.
The unused gymnasium was converted to a learning resources centre.
Luton Technical College became the University of Luton in 1993, and remains
University of Bedfordshire property after the merger with the Bedford campus of De Montfort University in August 2006.Further reading
James Dyer, "The Stopsley Book", Book Castle, 1998, ISBN 1-871199-04-2, pp. 56-64.
External links
* University of Bedfordshire, [http://www.beds.ac.uk/aboutus/history/putteridge Putteridge Bury Campus History]
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