Westminster College, Oxford

Westminster College was a college of higher education in England. The college was founded in London in 1851 as a training institute for teachers for Methodist schools, and moved to Oxford in 1959. Following the move, the college also began to offer degree courses in Theology and Education. In 2000, financial pressures caused the college to close. The Methodist Church subsequently leased the college's campus at Harcourt Hill to Oxford Brookes University, and it became the home of the university's Westminster Institute of Education.

History

Westminster College was founded at Horseferry Road in Westminster, London, in 1851 and originally specialised in the training of teachers for Methodist schools. Its neo-Gothic buildings were requistioned during World War I and used as a station for Australian servicemen, during which time the College ceased to function. The site was severely damaged by an incendiary bomb during the blitz of early World War II, and the buildings were never repaired. They were demolished in the 1960s and the headquarters of the television station Channel 4 now stand on the site.

In 1951, Westminster College moved to a purpose-built campus on Harcourt Hill, Oxford, which is noted for its fusion of Oxford quads with a "New England" style of architecture, evident particularly in the large and distinctive chapel.

Following the move, the college began to offer a number of Theology and Education degrees which were validated by the Council for National...
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