Estates Bursar David Anderson takes a look at the history of the campus through its architecture.
D Social was built in 1885, and has had a large number of extensions. You can see from the roofline, as you view the building from Chapel Quad, all the ‘add ons’ through the years. It was then closed in with the extension on the South Drive ‘New Wing’ in 1975. The unusually shaped Shell hall was the last addition in the early 2000s.
This brief history is fairly unremarkable, but this belies the unusual story of how D came into existence.
In 1883 Sir George Bowyer, the College’s landlord, died. The whole estate was heavily mortgaged and with the future uncertain, the mortgages were minded to foreclose and sell up. Whilst the College could not afford to purchase the whole Estate, they agreed that a major local landowner Josephine Docker-Drysdale, who lived in Wick Hall (the family also owned Park End up until it was purchased by the new Warden in 2014) and planned to buy the whole estate, would agree to sell Mansion and 136 acres to Radley College. The transaction was completed and we paid £13,000!
We were then the proud owners of Radley College, which was mortgaged. This opened the way to a more adventurous building policy. The Rackets court was built in 1885, and with the school numbers expanding, accommodation issues became acute. A Don, Revd T D Raikes, was keen to become a tutor and he offered to advance the money to the college to build D Social. Work commenced in 1885 and was completed in 1886 at a cost of £5,115. Revd Raikes became the first tutor staying in post until 1895, and he installed as his first house prefect the 6th Viscount Mountmorres. He didn’t have to wait long for his money as it was repaid in full by 1890. The tutor advancing the construction cost of his Social to the College was something that never really caught on!
The boarding house was for 30 boys in the first instance, but looking at the plans, the Tutor’s House was much bigger than the boarding accommodation which seems unusual. But if you are building and paying for it yourself, then why not!
