Ashburne Hall is a student hall of residence of the University of Manchester. It is situated on Old Hall Lane in Fallowfield.
Ashburne Hall was established in 1900 as a hall of residence for women students. Early advocates for a women's hall of residence included Professors Alexander, Dixon, Schuster, Tout and Wilkins, as well as the Principal of the College Dr Adolphus Ward. Other supporters included Alice Cooke, Mary Worthington, William Mather, A. H. Worthington and C. P. Scott. The constitution of Ashburne Hall was adopted at a public meeting in the Manchester Town Hall in 1899, to be administered by an independent council and funded by subscriptions and fees.
The Hall was initially based at Ashburne House in Victoria Park, a former residence donated by Robert D. Darbishire. The opening ceremony was performed on 27th January 1900 by Mrs Eleanor Sidgwick, Principal of Newham College, Cambridge. As honorary secretary and one of the chief founders of the Hall, Professor Samuel Alexander was heavily associated with Ashburne during its early years. Alexander's co-secretary, Alice Cooke, was Owens College's first female lecturer, having been appointed lecturer in History in 1893. The first Warden of Ashburne Hall was Helen Stephen, formerly of Cheltenham Ladies' College. The initial cohort numbered nine students. In 1901, a new wing was added with room for 12 students, followed by the addition in 1906 of a small house on Denison Road named Ashburne Lodge.
In 1910, overseen by Warden Phoebe Sheavyn, the Hall moved to new premises on the corner of Wilmslow Road and Old Hall Lane, Fallowfield. These premises, formerly known as The Oaks, had been occupied by the late Edward Behrens. The house and estate were sold by his executors to the University at a reduced rate in 1906, and were rented to Ashburne from 1908. In 1910, a large new wing (Mary Worthington Wing) was added on these grounds, the old Ashburne House in Victoria Park was given up, and the Oaks was renamed the Edward Behrens Wing of the newly consolidated Ashburne Hall. The same year, Ashburne Hall Council was reconstituted as a delegacy of the University, with greater representation at the University Council and Senate.
In response to demand for space, additional rooms were added in 1912 and a stable was converted to a sanitorium known as William's House. In 1919, two houses were added, one on Egerton Road, Fallowfield named Lees Hall (after Dame Sarah Lees) and one on Lower Park Road, Victoria Park named Ward Hall (after Adolphus William Ward). At the same time, existing facilities at Ashburne Hall were extended with the addition of the Central Block and Ward Wing. The library in Central Block was designed around the donation of Lord Morley's library, bequeathed to Ashburne Hall in 1923. Ward Hall was given up at the end of 1924, and its students integrated into the new Ward Wing. The new buildings were formally opened in 1925. In 1931, the Lees building was added to Behrens House to form Lees Wing, and students from Lees Hall were integrated into Ashburne. The Lees building was informally opened by Dame Sarah Lees in 1932.
In 1946 a nearby property, Bank House on Oak Drive, was purchased by the University as an annexe for Ashburne Hall, bringing the capacity of the Hall to 206. Bank House was renamed the Stopford Wing in honour of Sir John Stopford, former governor and chairman of Ashburne and Vice-Chancellor of the University. The Stopford Wing was removed in 1960 as part of the Owens Park development. In 1982, Uttley Hall was opened as a badminton/function hall, named after the author Alison Uttley, formerly of Ashburne House. It was later converted into the Hall's bar. Sheavyn House, a development of mixed-gender self-catered flats, opened in 1994. The Hall admitted male students for the first time in the 2000/1 term.
