Bowland College Tutor’s Handbook 2007/08
Bowland
Our College, the first and best at Lancaster, was founded in 1964.


The start-up was gradual. On January 12 the “Shadow Senate”
College – decided that the University should have two colleges to which the first
The First
students would be admitted in October, and by May the University
staff had been divided between Colleges A and B. Obviously these
Few Years
needed proper names and the Vice-Chancellor (tongue in cheek?)
suggested choosing from Saints, Scholars, Scientists, Lakes or
Mountains. College A met in Lancaster Town Hall on July 7 (which
we might regard as our conception), and after considering various
alternatives, wisely selected the name Bowland. The Charter was
sealed in September, and then Bowland College and the University
formally existed. We can take September 14, 1964 as our birthday.
The first real Syndicate Meeting took place two days later, when the
election of the first Principal, Professor John Bevington, took place
and the Tutorial System was established. It was soon decided,
largely due to opposition from Bowland, that admissions should not
take place via Colleges, as had been proposed. Bowland always led
the way, for example by converting the whole University from hard to
soft toilet paper via a decision in our Management Committee.

In October 1964 our first Junior Members arrived. Nearly 300
students lived in the City, or in Morecambe, and were taught in a
converted factory in St Leonardgate. Many lectures were in a former
church, which recently became the Friary pub. (Then we usually
drank in the Shakespeare, now a B&B.) By the end of 1965
Syndicate was agonising over details of the proposed Bowland
College building at Bailrigg, the first to be built. Though he was not to
take over officially as Principal until October 1966, for all that year
Professor Malcolm Willcock argued with architects, convened
meetings and tirelessly pestered everybody involved to get right such
little details as the complete absence of toilets for the College Bar.
(We suffered the half-hearted “solution” to that for 30 years!) Even
the existence of a Bar as part of the College had to be fought for.

When the Bowland College building was opened in 1966, it was in
effect the whole University, used for teaching, administration and
study rooms for students resident in Lancaster and Morecambe. The
first residences to be completed were in the Annexe on the two floors
above the shops. Originally the residence in Bowland Tower was
mainly double rooms, but this sharing was not popular and after a
period as “married” accommodation (no licence was required!) these
were converted to big singles. It was in 1967 that students first
began to move into the Main Building, as study space and teaching
facilities began to open up elsewhere and residence rooms became
available. Being enclosed by the original University buildings has
meant that for many years Bowland was the least altered and
expanded College. This changed in 2004 when our neighbour
college Lonsdale was re-located to new buildings on Alexandra Park
and Bowland expanded into the old Lonsdale space, which was re-
named Bowland North.

Space is not available here for details of the rest of the College
Ian Saunders
history. It is a long story, but anybody involved for long in College
Bowland
politics will confirm that in reality nothing has greatly changed.
College autonomy always is under attack, the efficiency of the tutorial
College
system is queried regularly, our central Bowland buildings are ever
Principal
envied (and periodically fought for). The students have always been
1989 - 1999
drinking too much and working too little, and yet somehow turning up
splendid student officers to run the JCR and the Students Union.
Long may Bowland College and the University prosper!


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