Archive Item of the Month – September 2012
3rd September 2012
This month sees the University taking part in national Heritage Open Days for the first time on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th September. The Chapel, Quad building and Archives Room will be open as part of the festival which celebrates free access to thousands of places that form part of Britain’s unique heritage. The University Archives and Chapel are always open to the public free of charge, although it is great to be taking part in the festival. The University Archives will be displaying documents charting the history of Francis Close Hall campus and the foundation of the Cheltenham Training College from which the University evolved.
The item this time is a piece of masonry from the Quad building brought in to the archives by a member of staff. It clearly displays a mason’s mark which would have been carved on the stone by the craftsman working on that particular section of building. This would have been in the late 1840s prior to the opening of the building as the Cheltenham Training College in 1850.
More information on Heritage Open Days can be found here, and information specific to the University of Gloucestershire’s involvement here.