campus

Located in North Staffordshire, Keele’s campus is rural with many 19th-century architectural features such as Keele Hall predating the concrete and red-brick buildings of the modern university. The campus occupies a 625-acre (250 ha) rural campus close to the village of Keele and consists of extensive woods, lakes and Keele Hall set in Staffordshire Potteries. The estate was originally given by King Henry II of England to the Knights Templars in 1180. When the Templars were condemned and dissolved by the Council of Vienne in 1311, their possessions were annexed by the Knights Hospitallers until their dissolution by Henry VIII. The estate was purchased from the Crown by the Sneyd family and remained their property until acquisition by the Stoke-on-Trent Corporation in 1948. Apart from increasing numbers of academic and residential buildings, other facilities include an astronomical observatory, arts and cultural programme, arboretum, Islamic centre, shops, cafés and places to eat and drink. The campus has science, business enterprise parks and conference centres. It is home to the Earth Science Education Unit (ESEU). The chapel is located in the centre of the campus, close to the university library and student union. From the onset, Christian worship was central to University life. Lindsay, first principal of the University College, was an ardent Christian preaching every Sunday in the Library Reading room of Keele Hall. A permanent structure was required and the chapel was built in 1965. Built from Staffordshire blue brick, the chapel accommodates different Christian traditions.

Academic programmes

When the University was founded in 1948, the Librarian’s office was located above a public house in Stoke, near the Town Hall. In 1952, the old Sneyd Library was used with 20,000 items which increased to 70,000 by 1954. By 1955, 155,000 volumes were accounted for and necessitating 12 full-time staff. Later, the Senate Room in Keele Hall was used to house the material. Construction of the new library campus began in 1961 with additional expansion completed in 1966. By the early 1970s, the library was able to accommodate 750 readers and 600,000 books.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

• School of Humanities
• Keele Business School
• School of Law
• School of Social, Political and Global Studies

Faculty of Natural Scieence

• School of Computing & Mathematics
• School of Life Sciences
• School of Geography, Geology & the Environment
• School of Chemical & Physical Sciences
• School of Psychology
• School of Veterinary Sciences
• Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

• School of Allied Health Professions
• School of Medicine
• School of Nursing & Midwifery
• School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering
• School of Primary, Community and Social Care