Eliot College is the oldest

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

of the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

. It was established in 1965, the same year the university opened. Prior to the start of the 2020-21 academic year, the post of College Master was abolished at Eliot and all the other University of Kent colleges.

Namesake

The college is named after

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

, the poet who died on 4 January 1965, the same day the university was formally established. The name "Caxton College", after

William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

, was also considered.Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' (

University of Kent at Canterbury A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, 1990) page 124

College architecture

The basic design of the college was inspired by

Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whil ...

's design for a residential block at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

.Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' (

, 1990) page 129 The need to have three hundred study-bedrooms and several large areas for distinctive use, such as teaching, a

common room A common room is a type of shared lounge, most often found in halls of residence or dormitories, at (for example) universities, colleges, military bases, hospitals, rest homes, hostels, and even minimum-security prisons. They are generall ...

and a dining hall plus kitchens, led to the adoption of a section design with the college divided into several square blocks, each containing a distinctive interior space with study bedrooms along all four walls. The Bryn Mawr residential block has three squares in a row, but faced with the need for an additional square for each college, it was decided to arrange the squares in a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

layout. The college is to a large extent a mirror of Rutherford College, as the same basic design was used for both and time constraints meant that there was no opportunity for the latter to be adapted to meet problems encountered in the use of the former. However due to the contours of the hill on which the campus is built, the two colleges are not exactly alike and in later years annexe extensions and alterations were to further the differences.Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' (

, 1990) page 127

Becket Court

In addition to the college's main accommodation, it also includes the adjacent Becket Court residential building, named after

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

. ("Becket" was one of several names originally considered for what became Darwin College.Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' (

, 1990) pages 122-126 ) Becket Court was opened in 1990 and contains

en suite A bathroom is a room in which people wash their bodies or parts thereof. It can contain one or more of the following plumbing fixtures: a shower, a bathtub, a bidet, and a sink (also known as a wash basin in the United Kingdom). A toilet is als ...

accommodation.

References

{{University of Kent University of Kent