With the imminent move of Wheatley Campus Library to Headington, we’ve been reflecting on the Library’s bygone days and exploring some of the artefacts from its 60-year history.

The silver trowel

This silver trowel was used in the Ceremony of the Stone held on 26 September 1964 to mark the setting of the foundation stone at Wheatley campus. The campus was originally built for the Lady Spencer-Churchill College, a women’s teacher training college, originally established at Bletchley Park after World War II. During the ceremony, the Senior Student, Penninah Weir-Watson, used this trowel to set the foundation stone which celebrated the College’s foundation years at Bletchley, saying, “By this act we establish, with pride and with humility, that from this day forth, no one enters the college except by way of us. I set this stone in the name of all those who have been, and therefore still are, and whose work is now secured forever within the greatness of these buildings.”

The foundation stone can still be seen in the entrance steps to H-block and the Library.

The bell

Library patrons may remember the days before 24/7 opening when Library staff rang time at the end of each day. This brass handbell was rung every evening at 9 o’clock to announce that the Library was closing. It was replaced by a tannoy system in 2004 and currently resides in the university’s archive. But the bell has an even longer history than the Library. The inscription “A. R. P.” signifies Air Raid Precautions and tells usthat the bell was originally used by ARP wardens during World War II to alert the public at the end of an air raid. Today there’s a small crack on the bell, perhaps the result of some over-vigorous ringing by one of the university librarians.

Who was Dora Cohen anyway?

Recent students at Wheatley Campus have probably spent happy hours in lectures in Dora Cohen Hall. Did you every wonder how it got its name?

Miss Dora Cohen was the Principal of Bletchley Park College and later Lady Spencer-Churchill College when it moved to Wheatley. She seems to have been a strong-minded person, very well-respected and able to use her influence for the good of the college. A lover of arts, plants and beautiful things, Miss Cohen wasn’t too impressed with the 1960’s style of architecture.

  “Much of the major building work today is uncivil, I think. It has shrewish, sharp-featured manners, thin and edgy… Everything calculated to give you the maximum noise for your money.” (Forsaith, 2004).

As part of Oxford Polytechnic, and later Oxford Brookes University, Dora Cohen Hall has been used for lectures, exams, Formula 1 visits and pop concerts. Most of the OxPoly gigs were held in Helena Kennedy building at Headington Hill. A few memorable bands played in Dora Cohen Hall, including The Cure (13 March 1979) and King Crimson (10 March 1982).

— Claire Cardinal, Library Assistant, Wheatley Campus.

Sources:

Forsyth, P. S. (2004) ‘In the end is my beginning’: Dora Cohen and the Bletchley Park Training College. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.