St Martin's College - History

History

St Martin's College opened in 1964, founded by the Church of England as a College of Education to train teachers, one of only two Church Colleges to be established in the 20th Century. Built on the Lancaster site of the (as of 01/07/2006) redundant King's Own Royal Border Regiment on Bowerham Road, the College opened with 89 students. The College was officially opened by the Queen Mother in 1967

The College is named after St Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who tore his cloak in two to clothe a naked beggar and later had a vision of Christ wearing the cloak. It is significant because just as St Martin renounced his life as a soldier after this to take on a life of caring and teaching, Bowerham Barracks left behind its military past to become a Church College.

The College’s founder Principal was Dr Hugh Pollard, who stayed with the College until his retirement in 1976. He had overseen the College’s establishment and led it through its formative years. The student population had grown to 700 students by the time of Dr Pollard’s retirement.

He was replaced by Robert Clayton, who had been previously Principal of Matlock College in Derbyshire. During his time in charge, the college branched out into Health, Radiography and Nursing courses, areas that would form a substantial part of the College’s provision from then on. In 1989, Mr Clayton announced his intention to retire. His replacement was Dr Ian Edynbry, formerly Vice-Principal of Worcester College of Higher Education and Assistant Principal at Middlesex Polytechnic.

Dr. Edynbry was to oversee the College’s greatest expansion to date, as St Martin’s started to establish campuses in Cumbria. In 1996, Charlotte Mason College in Ambleside became part of St Martin’s College to become its first campus in Cumbria.

This was soon followed in 1998 by the College’s acquisition of Carlisle’s former City General Hospital and City Maternity Hospital (originally a Workhouse) on Fusehill Street. The College had been active in Carlisle since 1995, since its takeover of the Lakeland College of Nursing. The Carlisle Campus has subsequently been redeveloped with modern facilities including en-suite student accommodation, a sports complex and most recently the Learning Gateway, a building kitted out with state-of-the-art IT to aid flexible and distributed learning.

It was left to Dr Edynbry’s successor to take these new campus developments forward, as he announced he was to retire earlier than expected in 1997. The new Principal was Professor Chris Carr, whose previous role was as Pro-Vice Chancellor of University of Central Lancashire. Professor Carr took on the challenge of bringing cohesion to a diverse and multi-campus institution, whilst encouraging further diversification and expansion. Developments have been constant on each campus during that time, with new sports complexes built in Carlisle and Lancaster, a new library named the Charlotte Mason Library on the Ambleside Campus and new en-suite halls of residence built on the Carlisle Campus. The Alexandra Building was opened on the Lancaster Campus in 2004, a teaching and learning block with dedicated facilities for the arts.

As of 2005, over 11,500 students study at St Martin’s College, employing over 1000 dedicated staff. The College has a substantial national reputation in teacher training and nursing, as the largest provider of teachers in the UK and a major provider of Health Care Practitioners in the North and North-West.