Trevelyan College (known colloquially as Trevs) is a college of Durham University, England. Founded in 1966, the college takes its name from social historian George Macaulay Trevelyan (pronounced "Trevillian"), chancellor of the university from 1950 to 1957. Originally an all-female college (the last to open in England), the college became fully mixed in 1992.
Trevelyan is noted in Durham for its hexagon-featuring architecture and for the display of daffodils that surrounds it every spring. As a constituent college of Durham University, Trevelyan is listed as a higher education institution under the Education Reform Act 1988. It is owned and for the most part run by the university.
History
During the early 1960s, the British Government commissioned the Robbins Report to look into the future of higher education in the UK. When published, the report recommended the expansion of universities and the student population. This was accepted as government policy. In 1963, the University of Newcastle was officially established as a separate entity from the University of Durham, which meant that new colleges within Durham were required in order to meet the number of new university places that the Government wished to create. As a result, the university planned for three new colleges on Elvet Hill; these went on to become Collingwood, Trevelyan and Van Mildert.
New women's college
Trevelyan was planned to become an all-women college, similar to St Mary's and St Aidan's, so as to increase the female population of the student body. The college was built on farmland south of St Mary's off Elvet Hill Road, which was owned by a local family, the Carpenters. Other people at the opening include the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, two Pro-Vice-Chancellors, the Bishops of Durham and of Ripon (whose wife, Mary Moorman, was a relative of Trevelyan and also present) and the Mayor and Mayoress of Durham.
Since opening
In 1973, a 300-person capacity hall, the Sir James Knott Hall, (known colloquially as the "JKH") was opened in the presence of the Duke of Northumberland. In 1991 a new accommodation block was added to the main building. This block, the K block, is entirely ensuite and now typically reserved for final year and postgraduate students.
Buildings
thumb|Front view
thumb|right|200px|Trevelyan College entrance
The internal construction of Trevelyan is unusual, comprising a string of hexagon-shaped blocks, resulting in most rooms containing unusual angles.
At the opening of the college, its architect John Eastwick-Field said of the design of the college: