The IM Marsh Campus is a former university campus in south

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. It was, until 2021, home to the School of Education, Leisure and Sport Studies and the School of Teacher Education and Professional Learning (both part of the Faculty of Education, Health and Community (EHC)), of

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

. It formerly housed the majority of the university's sporting facilities including: sports hall, two gymnasiums, fitness suite, climbing wall, tennis courts, hockey astroturf and three large playing fields. All the facilities were operated by Marsh Sports.

History

The Liverpool Gymnasium College, later the Liverpool Physical Training College, was founded in 1900 by Irene Mabel Marsh (hence the IM Marsh Campus) as a physical education teacher training college for women. It was initially at a site at 110 Bedford Street, expanding into adjacent buildings, until Irene Marsh bought Barkhill House in 1919. It was renamed the I.M. Marsh College of Physical Education in 1947, and became co-educational in 1987. The campus briefly became part of the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

, until being transferred in 1981 to Liverpool Polytechnic which later became

Location

Based in the green suburb of

Aigburth Aigburth () is a suburb of Liverpool, England. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Toxteth and Dingle to the north, Mossley Hill to the east, and Garston to the south, with the River Mersey forming its western boundary. Desc ...

in south

approximately four miles from the city centre, it was the only LJMU campus outside of the city centre. It is well connected to the city and the rest of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

through three local train stations ( Aigburth Station, Mossley Hill Station and West Allerton Station), several bus routes operated by

Merseytravel Merseytravel is a public transport body and the passenger transport executive of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority responsible for delivering Public transport and other transport functions in the Liverpool City Region. It was origin ...

, and

Liverpool John Lennon Airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport serving Liverpool, England, on the estuary of the River Mersey south-east of Liverpool city centre. Scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services are oper ...

Former facilities

Learning Resource Centre Learning Resource Centre (LRC) is a term which is used primarily in the United Kingdom to describe a type of library that exists within an educational setting such as a secondary school or university, distinguishable from a typical school library ...

*Computer Resource Centre * Science laboratories *Design and Technology laboratories * 2 Gymnasiums *

Climbing wall A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with manufactured grips (or "holds") for the hands and feet. Most walls are located indoors, and climbing on such walls is often termed indoor climbing. Some walls are brick or wooden constr ...

*Fitness Suite *Sports hall including 8

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

courts, 2

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

courts,

five-a-side football Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four Outfield#In association football, outfield players and a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper). Other differences from association football ...

pitches,

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

Courts *

Hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

pitch sized all weather

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...

*3 Outdoor

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

courts,

Courts *Large

Drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

Studio *The Egg

Dance studio A dance studio is a space in which dancers learn or rehearse. The term is typically used to describe a space that has either been built or equipped for the purpose. Overview A dance studio normally includes a smooth floor covering or, if used ...

*Sudley

Notable former students and staff

* Ian Usher (1982–1985 B.Ed. (Outdoor Education) - traveller, adventurer, writer and speaker. Sold "entire life" on

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

in 2008. *

Lindsey McAlister Lindsey McAlister OBE (b. 30 October 1960) is an English theatre director and writer based in Hong Kong. She founded the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (HKYAF) (formerly Youth Arts Festival) in 1993. She has written several original musicals, ...

, MBE (1978–1979) - theatre director in Hong Kong *

Ellinor Hinks Ellinor Margaret Hinks (6 February 1912 — 18 January 2004) was a Principal of Nonington College of Physical Education in Kent, UK. In her time as Principal, she increased the number of students, expanded the college’s facilities, made it co-edu ...

, 20th century physical educator, photographer and film maker

2011 and on

On 30 March 2011, LJMU announced their intention to sell the campus and relocate the faculty to the city centre. This has had the foreseeable effect of rendering it as not as up to date as other LJMU campuses, as funding has not kept up with that of other campuses. In 2022 the Bark Hill villa was saved from demolition after it was listed.

References

External links

Street map
an
aerial photo
of IM Marsh from Multimap
Liverpool John Moores University
website {{LJMU Liverpool John Moores University Physical education in the United Kingdom