Bretton Hall College: Return

One of the incredible lamps on the path from the access road on the west towards the sets of stairs leading down to the theatre studio (just in view on the right) and up to the Victor Pasmore Studio. There are flagstones somewhere beneath the mosses and plantlife.

Five years ago, in September 2020, in the midst of COVID fear and confusion, I shared a blog about the history and current condition of Bretton Hall College. It’s been one of my most popular blogs, apparently read and shared by Bretton Hall alumni. I’m very grateful to them, particularly those who have been in touch and shared their experiences of their student days in the midst of a West Yorkshire sculpture park with incredible views.

In May 2022, I sneaked back onto the Bretton Hall site to see what the state of dilapidation was like. On that occasion, I found the doors to the drama studio standing wide open. I couldn’t resist that invitation, and popped in to take some photographs (which I never shared, because they weren’t very good, which I suppose is what happens when you’re taking photos in the dark on a very outdated phone).

This year, the drama studio doors were neither open nor unlocked, but - curiously - other building doors were.

First, let’s get orientated:

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In 2020 I adapted this plan from 1963. I drew round what remains of the college buildings today in red. Buildings in blue were constructed since 1963 and are still on site. Click to expand.

The Theatre Courtyard

The courtyard outside the theatre and performance spaces, from the top of the first set of steps leading to the Victor Pasmore Studio. A young silver birch has been caged. The giant mask can’t be seen. The National Arts Education Archive building peeks out from behind the trees in the background.

The enclosed space between the Performance Centre, the Experimental Theatre studio, and the walls of the Stable Block collonade formed a potential performance space itself, with the steep bank that heads up to the Victor Pasmore Studio at the top of the site forming a seating area.

The Experimental Theatre studio. The giant mask is here, on the right, half-hidden by saplings. The clock of the Stable Block is visible behind.

The mask is surrounded by brambles, young silver birches and an elder in the corner, as well as the remnants of old staging, but what is this tree growing through its eye?

The upper windows of the studio are enclosed by lyre-like ornamentation. Parts of the rigging rust away in the foreground.

The entrance to the Stable Block colonnade alongside the glass section of the Performance Centre.

More rusting poles beside the Performance Centre.

On the way to Victor Pasmore

The courtyard steps which, although mercifully free of the brambles spreading everywhere else, are loose and reminiscent of a Knightmare-style false step.

Lichen and peeling paint on the handrail.

The second set of steps, with the corner of the Victor Pasmore Studio at the top.

The view of the college buildings from the top of the second flight of steps.

A bramble-filled original bin

Inside the Victor Pasmore Studio

The art studio is a sizeable building. Previously I could only peer in through the windows, but, to my surprise, the door at the top of the steps was unlocked. I enjoyed seeing all the signs that this was a thriving place of creativity, but I was baffled by some of the carpeted rooms at the back of the building, as well as the dark room with all the rigging still in place. If you were there, I’d be grateful to learn how these rooms were used!

A stand of rosebay willowherb welcomes visitors to the peeling exterior of Victor Pasmore Studio.

The brambles made it through the door before you. There were also many signs that pigeons had made it into the building through gaps between the wall and floor.

Fire extinguishers gather nervously in the huge, main room.

The wall behind the sunken painting sinks has become an artwork in itself.

“UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should painting/printmaking students use the sinks in the toilets for cleaning brushes or washing out containers. We have proper facilities in the studio for this.”

Signs of either creativity or a massacre in the back corner of the main room.

Detail of the excellent accidentally painted floor. Another artwork.

Detail of the potential massacre: red paint has run down the walls. Also, C+H=P.

An inexplicably unspattered wall-mounted phone is surrounded by yellow paint spatters.

Looking back along the main room towards the sinks and the main entrance. The fire extinguishers are on the other side of the dividing wall.

The dark room, with what looks like control booth windows, lots of rigging, and what might be a photography backdrop lying on the floor.

One of the two identical carpeted rooms at the back of the building.

The large room on the west of the building. Brambles have also made their way in through the fire exit. The height of the room is incredible and makes me wonder what the acoustics would have been like when students were busy here.

In the same room, a security booth has been installed at the front of the building, next to a gathering of several filing cabinets.

The view to the west from the main doors, showing the state of the eves.

The Stable Block Exterior

The colonnade of the Stable Block is in a poor state of repair in some areas, but it’s still very beautiful. The quadrant is evidently being kept tidy to some degree, with the grass mown and fewer wildflowers and shrubs.

Inside the Stable Block

The red double doors were unlocked. Inside, the rooms were in various conditions. Some were almost fine; others were full of dubious fungi, or the ceiling was falling in, or open windows had allowed birds to nest on top of the fluorescent lights. There were dead jackdaws in at least three rooms, most of them skeletonised. Presumably, they got in through a nest that fell down the chimney, or through an open window, then found themselves trapped when a previously open door was closed.

The Library and the Sir Alec Clegg Building

The north faces of the Sir Alec Clegg Building and the Library make up the southern side of the lawned Stable Block quadrant. Nothing much seems to have changed here except that the advanced state of decay of the external paintwork on the Library.

The north face of the Sir Alec Clegg Building

The last, small section of part of the dining hall.

Looking into a window on the south side of the Stable Block

The increasingly forlorn main entrance to the Library.

The main section of the Library, with its supporting stilts.

Looking through the passageway towards the National Arts Education Archive

The eastern side of the Sir Alec Clegg Building, with the north side of the Mansion ahead.

The east side of the Sir Alec Clegg Building, with a walkway going to nowhere above, and a sign saying, “IN MUSH WE TRUST”.

An ornamental poppy blooms in the garden behind the Sir Alec Clegg Building.

Behind the Library and the Sir Alec Clegg Building, and the North Side of the Mansion

The main change to the area between the north of the Mansion and the back of the Library is the number of rabbits (I’m afraid I captured no images of them), and the rate of decline in the condition of the Library. The wooden cladding has broken away in many areas, and the protective sheeting for other parts of the buildings was flapping uselessly in the wind. Still, many impressive features remain: the Library chandelier is still holding!

On the Way to the Gym

The National Arts Education Archive, with the Library to its left.

The wonderful structure of the 1960s Gym, with its lake/marsh in front.

Climbing ropes are still suspended from the ceiling.

A bench with a view of rushes and reeds.

The steps are barricaded off.

The Camellia House

The beautiful Camellia House is still currently closed, but given the growth of the plants within, it doesn’t seem untended.

The West Side of the Mansion

What does the future hold for Bretton Hall College?

As in 2020, the remaining buildings, including the main ‘mansion’, are still leased by Rushbond Plc, the Yorkshire-based property development company responsible for the site.

There are signs that the mansion itself is being developed, seemingly as part of a plan to open a Yorkshire branch of London’s famous Groucho Club (as per this press release from March 2024).

I’m unsure what will happen to the buildings that weren’t demolished in 2017, including the Victorian Stable Block, the remaining student accommodation block (Grasshopper), the 90s Victor Pasmore Studio, and the 1960s buildings, including the gym and library. There are no signs of any redevelopment in these buildings.

The information board has not been updated with recent developments.

The End

That was a lot of photographs. Perhaps over a hundred of them. Because I got inside a couple of buildings, I wanted to include as many images as possible (often regardless of the quality) in case they’re of interest to any alumnus, since even the smallest details can trigger memories, and this was clearly a very special place.

Hopefully, after all the delays to the redevelopment caused by COVID and everything else, the site will begin to be nurtured once more and become somewhere that is truly accessible or, at the very least, somewhat restored to its structurally secure state.

The main entrance to the Mansion, on its eastern side. KEEP OUT!

Links and Sources

If you haven’t already, please take a look at my original blog on Bretton Hall College, where you can find more information about the history of the college, and compare the pictures then with now. You’ll also find a list of links to further information.

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