Unpacking the lore behind Lancs Uni’s building names

We’ve all walked past them on our way to lectures, seminars and workshops. But, how many of us have actually stopped to question why the buildings of Lancaster Uni are named what they’re named. For all the Lancs students who are as nosy as I am, here’s a breakdown of five of the namesakes behind the buildings on campus: 

Margaret Fell 

Margaret Fell Lecture Theatre

Beloved by Lancs students as one of, if not the best buildings on campus, the Margaret Fell Lecture Theatre is the largest lecture theatre on campus and is situated off the north spine. The real Margaret Fell was a Quaker writer and feminist pioneer who lived from 1614 to 1702. She is most famous for writing the 1666 pamphlet Womens Speaking Justified, which defended women’s preaching in Quaker churches. The pamphlet also paved the way for women writers outside her religious circle in the late 17th Century. 

Charles Carter 

Charles Carter Management Building

Perhaps one of the more lesser known of the buildings on campus, Charles Carter is situated on south campus near the Management Centre. It is also mostly used for management and business classes.

The building is named after Sir Charles Frederick Carter, the founding vice chancellor of Lancaster University. Within this role, Carter actually helped set up the Management Centre before it opened. He was also an applied economist and active member of the Society of Friends, or Quakers. He received numerous honorary degrees, and was knighted in 1978, a year before his death. 

George Fox 

George Fox building

Home to some Fylde students and Guan Zi Chinese Restaurant, George Fox is another building of lecture theatres situated towards the further end of south campus. Its namesake George Fox was a preacher, missionary and founder of the Society of Friends.

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He is also significant for his extensive missionary work and controversial pamphlets dealing with social and theological questions. Fox married fellow Lancs celeb Margaret Fell in 1669 when visiting Lancashire after a missionary trip to Ireland.  

Marcus Merriman 

Marcus Merriman Lecture Theatre

Heading back to north campus, Marcus Merriman Lecture Theatre is situated in Bowland North and is mostly used for arts and humanities courses. Fittingly, the man himself was the first history lecturer appointed at Lancaster University and taught from 1964.

Although born in Baltimore, USA, Merriman is best remembered as an exceptional historian of sixteenth-century Scotland. He developed this interest in while on his year abroad in Scotland during his undergraduate degree. 

Edward Roberts 

Edward Roberts Court

Edward Roberts is known for being the name of the food court and student hotspot which is home to Sultans Experience, KC’s African & Caribbean Cuisine, Spar and more. However, it was also the name of American disability rights activist Edward Roberts.

Roberts became a quadriplegic after surviving polio as a child and spent most of his days in an iron lung. During his studies at the University of California, Roberts formed the student group The Rolling Quads. Together with the group, he raised awareness about inaccessible classroom, founded the Physically Disabled Student Program and inspired the opening of the Centre for Independent Living. 

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