Caerleon campus

The impetus for the establishment of the Caerleon campus came from the 1902 Education Act which abolished the existing School boards in England and Wales, replacing them with local education authorities administered by the county councils. In 1908 Monmouthshire County Council,{{efn|At the time Caerleon was in the county of Monmouthshire but was transferred to the county borough of Newport in 1996.}} following discussion with neighboring authorities, proposed the establishment of two teacher training colleges, one in Barry for the training of female students, and one at Caerleon for the training of male students. The Caerleon campus site was purchased and in 1912 the foundation stone for the college was laid by Reginald McKenna, MP for North Monmouthshire and home secretary in the Liberal Government of the time.{{Cadw|num=87729|desc=Former Caerleon Teacher Training College Building|grade=II|access-date=4 January 2024}}

The architects for the new campus were Swash & Son of Newport.{{Coflein|num=606|desc=Caerleon Campus|access-date=4 January 2025}} Alfred Swash (1860–1939), trained as an architect in the firm of Habershon, Pite and Fawckner, establishing his own practice in 1888. In 1908 he was joined by his son, Frank Stanley.{{Cite web|url=https://architecture.arthistoryresearch.net/architects/swash-alfred|title=Swash, Alfred 1860 - 1939|publisher=

Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Architects 1800-1950|access-date=4 January 2025}} Alfred served as mayor of Newport in 1916–17.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newportpast.com/gallery/photos/php/photo_page.php?search=Risca&pos=21|title=Alfred Swash, Mayor of Newport 1916 - 1917|publisher=Newport Past|access-date=4 January 2025}} Frank Stanley (1885–1965) continued in practice after his father's death, retiring to Poole in Dorset where he died in 1965.{{Cite web|url=https://architecture.arthistoryresearch.net/architects/swash-frank-stanley|title=Swash, Frank Stanley 1885 - 1965|publisher=

Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Architects 1800-1950|access-date=4 January 2025}}

The campus was subsequently renamed Caerleon College of Education, before merging with the Newport College of Art and Design and the Gwent College of Technology in 1975 to become the Gwent College of Higher Education. Further mergers saw academic control move to the University of Wales, Newport in 2004 and to the University of South Wales in 2013.{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwales.ac.uk/about/our-history/|title=Our History|publisher=University of South Wales|access-date=4 January 2025}} The following year the university announced its intention to close the Caerleon campus and to sell the site, effective from the autumn of 2016.{{cite web|title=Campus Changes|url=http://campuschanges.southwales.ac.uk/|publisher=University of South Wales|access-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141117054031/http://campuschanges.southwales.ac.uk/|archive-date=17 November 2014|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} The campus was subsequently bought by Barratt Redrow for residential development. The university and the developers favoured the clearing of the site through demolition but, following a local campaign and political pressure, the main block and three ancillary buildings were protected through listed building status issued by Cadw in 2017.{{cite news|url=http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/14530481.Caerleon_group_write_open_letter_to_re_assess_Caerleon_campus__39__main_building_for_listing/|first=Carys|last=Thomas|title=Caerleon group write open letter to re-assess Caerleon campus' main building for listing|work=South Wales Argus|date=1 June 2016 |access-date=4 January 2025}}{{cite news|url=http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/15132072.Caerleon_campus_building_given_listed_status/|first=Angharad|last=Williams|title=Historic Caerleon college campus given listed status by Cadw |work=South Wales Argus|date=3 March 2017 |access-date=4 January 2024}} The site was sold on to Acorn Property in 2023 and development work on the estate, renamed Parc Y Coleg, continues as at January 2025.{{Cite web|url=https://www.acornpropertygroup.org/development/tempus-at-parc-y-coleg-caerleon/|title=Tempus At Parc Y Coleg, Caerleon|publisher=Acorn Property Group|access-date=4 January 2025}}

Between 2019 and 2023 the campus was used as a principal filming location for the Netflix television series Sex Education, when it represented Moordale Secondary School.{{cite news|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/welsh-homes/exclusive-look-inside-caerleon-college-28045730|first=Joanne|last=Ridout|title=Exclusive look inside Caerleon College that featured on Netflix's Sex Education that's now empty|work=Wales Online|date=5 November 2023|access-date=4 January 2025}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.visitmonmouthshire.com/inspire-me/film-and-tv-in-monmouthshire/sex-education|title=Netflix's 'Sex Education' filming locations|publisher=Visit Monmouthshire|access-date=4 January 2025}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/where-is-sex-education-filmed|title=Where is 'Sex Education' filmed?|first=James|last=Medd|date=24 June 2021|publisher=CN Traveller|access-date=4 January 2025}}

The main block at Caerleon campus is of three storeys with a central clock tower. The construction material is Old Red Sandstone with Bath stone ashlar dressings. Cadw describes the architectural style as "mixed Revival". Swash & Son's original plans were for a more elaborate building than was eventually constructed, with a larger central tower and more decoration in the stonework. John Newman, in his Gwent/Monmouthshire volume in the Buildings of Wales series, describes the thirty-one-bay façade as "enormously long".{{sfn|Newman|2000|pp=142-143}} To either side of the main block are two pavilions, originally serving as the principal's and caretaker's houses. The principal's house was to a grander design than the porter's lodge.{{Cadw|num=87726|desc=Principal's residence at the University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus|grade=II|access-date=4 January 2024}} Both were designed to frame, and conceal, the main façade until it could be viewed at close quarters.{{Cadw|num=87727|desc=Caretaker's/Gardener's lodge at the University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus|grade=II|access-date=4 January 2024}} Entrance to the site is through a pair of gatepiers which flank a long drive.{{Cadw|num=87728|desc=Gate piers at the University of South Wales, Caerleon Campus|grade=II|access-date=4 January 2024}}

The college main block, the former principal's house, the caretaker's lodge and the gatepiers at the entrance to the site are all Grade II listed buildings. John Newman considered two later-20th century additions to be of particular interest; the Faculty of Art and Design, "a spectacular cascade of steel and glass", of 1982, and the Rathmell Building, "a huge, metal-clad asymmetrical curve", of 1995–97.{{sfn|Newman|2000|pp=142-143}}{{efn|John Newman suggested that the Gwent County Council architects of the Art and Design Faculty were influenced by the contemporaneous Inmos microprocessor factory at Newport designed by Richard Rogers.{{sfn|Newman|2000|pp=142-143}}}} Neither structure was listed by Cadw and both were demolished after 2016.{{cite news|url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/19628785.caerleon-campus-memories---sex-education-location-demolished/|first=Elizabeth|last=Birt|title=Caerleon Campus memories - Sex Education location demolished|work=South Wales Argus|date=9 October 2021 |access-date=4 January 2025}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book

|last=Newman |first=John

|author-link=John Newman (architectural historian)

|series=The Buildings of Wales

|title=Gwent/Monmouthshire

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knRf4U60QjcC&q=The+Buildings+of+Wales%3A+Gwent%2FMonmouthshire&pg=PA2

|year=2000

|publisher=Penguin Books

|location=London

|isbn=978-0-300-09630-9

}}

• [https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/606/ RCAHMW record]
• [https://uswfoxtail.blob.core.windows.net/foxtail-prod-uploads/documents/Memories_of_Caerleon_-_final.pdf "Memories of Caerleon"] - published by University of South Wales, 2016

{{Caerleon, Wales}}

{{City of Newport}}

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Caerleon, Wales