Trevelyan College

(Redirected from Trevelyan College, Durham)

Categories: Colleges of the University of Durham

Trevelyan College, Durham
Image:Durham - Trevelyan arms.png
Motto	Vera fictis libentius "Truth more readily than falsehood"
Founded	1966
Principal	Dr Nigel Martin
Location	Elvet Hill Road
Students	559 undergraduate, 30 postgraduate (2004)

Trevelyan College, commonly known as Trevs, is a college of the University of Durham in England. It was founded in 1966 and takes its name from the historian George Macaulay Trevelyan, Chancellor of the University from 1950 to 1957.

Trevs' internal construction is very unusual. Essentially, it is a string of hexagons (apparently designed as a modern interpretation of Durham Castle), which means that many of the rooms contain strange angles. In a typical room, the angles in any pair of opposite corners add up to 180°, making it a cyclic quadrilateral. One story is that the architect believed that women — for whom the college was originally designed, becoming fully mixed only in 1992 — would be intimidated by a building full of right angles and corners. Others have speculated that the building is designed to minimise privacy and make it difficult to "misbehave", as the unique layout means that almost all of the rooms have windows overlooked by other windows.

Other than that, the layout is not atypical of an Oxbridge college, featuring rooms based around staircases, landings and courtyards. When the college became fully mixed, one of the courtyards was roofed to provide a new, much enlarged bar. The area above this new roof is nicknamed The Goldfish Bowl by students, due to the close proximity of the windows looking into other rooms. The Undercroft, a relaxing seating area, links the bar with the rear of the college. The entrance hall is called the Cobbles, although said cobbles are no longer there having been removed during a modern refit.

The building, built in the 1960s, has won a Civic Design Award. More modern additions include the K-block with en-suite rooms and the Sir James Knott Hall. Approximately 320 students can be housed in the building, and around 500 are members of the college, making Trevs one of the smaller of Durham's colleges. Its shield bears the upper half of a horse swimming in water, which is reflected humorously in the title of the college magazine, Hippocampus.

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Notable alumni

Its most famous alumna is arguably the late Mo Mowlam (former cabinet minister) who, in a characteristically rebellious act even at that tender age, is reputed to have painted her room black. Other alumni include thriller writer Minette Walters, garden expert Pippa Greenwood, the puzzle writer David J. Bodycombe, Mark Fyson (GB gymnast) and the Pop Idol contender Chris Neville-Smith.

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External links

Trevelyan College official website
Trevelyan College JCR undergraduate student organisation

Colleges of the University of Durham