The many guises of the Great Hall
As 2025’s graduation ceremonies commence and students flock to the Great Hall with their families, we unveil the fascinating history of the campus centrepiece.
An impressive, Grade II listed red-brick hall housed within the Aston Webb building, the Great Hall sits at the heart of Chancellor’s Court on the University of Birmingham’s Edgbaston campus. Since its construction in 1900, thousands of students have paraded beneath its ornate trompe l’oeil domed ceiling – sitting exams in pensive silence and taking to the stage amid rousing applause at graduation ceremonies.
But the Great Hall is not just a place of academic excellence. Photographs, information and artefacts preserved and curated by University historians and archivists reveal the many guises the Great Hall has taken across its proud 125-year history, serving not just the University but Great Britain as a wartime hospital, pandemic test centre, and BBC recording space.
Civic symbolism
According to University historian Dr Matt Cole and University Archivist at the Cadbury Research Library Dr Helen Fisher, “Immediately after the University gained its royal charter in 1900, plans were drawn up for its premises at Bournbrook, and Joseph Chamberlain insisted that the Great Hall should be in the first phase of building. He demanded that the Hall be expanded to outstrip Birmingham Town Hall and designed to justify its reputation as 'a cathedral to learning'.”
The hall’s formal marble entrance is bordered by archways that draw the eye to the centre of the room where, in true cathedral style, the space is dominated by an impressive stained glass window. An intricate design across 22 of its panels acknowledges the vital role of local industry, from the metalworking and engineering trades that made Birmingham famous to the medical and scientific advancements that positioned the city as a leader in education and innovation.
The University’s civic roots are again reflected through the vaulted ceiling which places the city’s coat of arms alongside the University’s. Unlike in other depictions, the artist and the engineer are here shown with intertwined arms, reflecting their working in partnership.
Since the University of Birmingham’s foundations were first laid 125 years ago, right through to this month’s graduation ceremonies, the Great Hall has been at the heart of University life. It is one of my personal favourite spaces on the Edgbaston Campus and I think everyone who has attended UoB feels incredibly proud to learn of all the ways it has been of service to the University, the region, and the country.
From hall to hospital
The First World War saw many changes to the young University. No transformation was more poignant than that of the Great Hall being turned over to the national effort as the base of the 1st Southern General Hospital. It housed 800 beds where a total of 125,000 patients were treated during its use.
The grand surrounds prompted the hospital's magazine at the time, The Southern Cross, to joke that it was reminiscent of the Palace at Sinaia, the King of Romania's summer retreat in the Carpathians.In an attempt to boost morale for the wounded soldiers, games, sport and entertainment were hosted on the campus. At the 1st Southern General, entertainment included performances by actors from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre or, for those more able, playing games in the surrounding grounds.
Research centres were created jointly with industry for essential wartime work. In 1915, 80 staff were involved in roles of national importance regarding applications of fuel research, emergency building techniques with concrete, wireless telegraphy, tank design, light alloys for aircraft, poison gas and explosives.
In contrast, academic work also advanced surgical techniques and medical practices, including the preparation and production of anaesthetics.
Many members of staff and students went to war, and of those, 175 died in service. Their names are carved in the reception of Aston Webb.
The Great Hall at the University of Birmingham in use as a military hospital ward during WWI.
University Archives photographs UC 10/i/4
The Great Hall in use as a COVID-19 testing centre during the pandemic in 2020.
A pathway through the pandemic
In 2020, the Great Hall was called into service once again, this time working with NHS Test & Trace to be converted into an on-campus asymptomatic test site (ATS) for COVID-19 where staff and students took tests before using the facilities on campus or attending teaching sessions.
The testing site at the University of Birmingham was delivered by Professor Alan McNally from the University’s Institute of Microbiology and Infection whose team of researchers offered the self-swab lateral flow tests.
Testing at this scale allowed the University to continue to function at a time of great upheaval, to maintain core facilities, such as the library, and to continue wherever possible to provide structure, support and a semblance of normality for the student community.
Speaking in November 2020 when the ATS was announced, Baroness Dido Harding, Interim Executive Chair of the National Institute for Health Protection, said:
“NHS Test and Trace continues to play a leading role in the fight against COVID-19 with over 32 million tests processed so far. The work of the University of Birmingham will be essential in helping us explore the benefits of new technology in lateral flow testing. This ATS is one of many which will lay the foundations for the next phase of NHS Test and Trace – mass testing - which will allow us to test even more people, even more quickly.”
A central stage for activism & the arts
The defiant nature of the late 1960s saw the hall become the host site for student activism. In 1968, the Guild shared The Student Role with University authorities, a document calling for institutional reform and to give students a greater say in governance. After prolonged negotiations, students felt their requests were not being taken seriously. Inspired by a global mood of rebellion, they occupied parts of the Aston Webb Building including the Great Hall.
The beautiful structure of the building has also attracted the arts. Though the University developed enviable dedicated spaces for the arts, the Hall’s grand aesthetic and wonderful acoustics made it a favoured venue for high-profile public performances. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra recorded more than 50 albums there in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Distinguished Lecture Series has seen visitors including Yehudi Menuhin, David Attenborough and Jung Chang speak from its stage since 1976. In the 1960s a cinema projection system was set up in the Hall, and it has welcomed television cameras for shows including the Antiques Roadshow on two occasions.
In 1968, University of Birmingham students occupied the Great Hall and Aston Webb building for a week in late November and early December that year.
A space for celebrating greatness
Whenever they might have attended the University, something that every UoB graduate fondly remembers the Great Hall for is the opportunity to walk up on stage with their peers, in front of loved ones, to collect that life-changing degree they worked so hard for.
Graduation is the highlight of the academic year and as the Degree Congregations for UoB’s Class of 2025 commence the history of this grand space is sure to resonate with those students graduating in the University’s milestone year.
Vice Chancellor Professor Adam Tickell said: “Since the University of Birmingham’s foundations were first laid 125 years ago, right through to this month’s graduation ceremonies, the Great Hall has been at the heart of University life. It is one of my personal favourite spaces on the Edgbaston Campus and I think everyone who has attended UoB feels incredibly proud to learn of all the ways it has been of service to the University, the region, and the country.
“To the Class of 2025, I want to say, take your moment in that great space. Pause to look around and take in the architecture, the ambience. Think of all the footsteps that have been taken before yours and feel the history that lies just beneath the surface. You are now part of that proud history, making your imprint and we hope to see this magnificent building still standing for another 125 years and beyond.”
Those who are visiting campus this July for a degree congregation should make a point of catching the University’s brass band Birmingham Symphonic Brass which has been adding a real sense of occasion to degree congregations since it was set up in 2012. The ten brass players, two fanfare trumpets and percussion players are students from across all colleges who have auditioned as part of University Music and they are accompanied by professional University Organist Nicholas Wearne.
The music is arranged specifically for the ceremonies by Harborne-based composer, Stephen Roberts – a UoB alumnus who did his PhD in composition at the University in the 1990s and is now Professor of Orchestration at the Royal Military School of Music, London.
Explore more for yourself
A new exhibition by University Collections – Largely in Your Hands – focuses on all elements of the University of Birmingham’s fascinating history including compelling images of the Great Hall and its 125 years of service. Why not pop in to take a look next time you’re passing the Aston Webb building and discover more for yourself?