Middlesbrough College moved into brand new premises at the heart of Middlesbrough, as part of the Middlehaven regeneration scheme.

Middlesbrough College is the largest further education provider in Middlesbrough and in various guises has been providing education and training relevant to the needs of local industry and business for many years.

Students at Middlesbrough College’s new site benefit from some outstanding facilities, including a theatre capable of accommodating an audience of 156 people, one of the largest sports halls in the Tees Valley, fourteen engineering and construction workshops, recording studios, three lecture theatres, six hair and beauty salons and a similar number of training kitchens, and a four-storey library. Whilst designed to meet the needs of learners, many of these facilities are also open to the community.

The College opened with 3,500 full time students aged 16 to 18 and a similar number of part-time students, doing courses from basic skills through to degree level study.

Whilst the further education system of which Middlesbrough College has its roots in the mid twentieth century, some of the buildings that the College occupied in the first decade of the twenty-first century have a much longer history.

When it moved to its new premises, Middlesbrough college said farewell to four sites which had been an important part of the educational fabric of Middlesbrough for nearly a century, including one site which contains the only Grade 1 listed building in the area, Acklam Hall.

The name ‘Acklam’ is derived from Anglo-Saxon, and means "place of oaks".

There is evidence that there has been a church on this site for over a thousand years, and a place known as Acklam Hall mentioned in the Domesday survey (1086), which recorded the Acklam estate as being in the possession of Robert de Brus.

In 1277, the King’s Treasurer made an inquiry concerning the duties of knights to supply men-at-arms for the King. The inquiry reported that William de Boynton had land at Acklam.

A similar inquiry in 1303 reported that Acklam was held by Ingelram de Boynton. The manor of Acklam came to the Boyntons through the marriage of Sir Ingleram de Boynton to a daughter of the house of Acclun (or Acclam) in the time of Henry I.

Passing through various hands over the years, by the early 17th century, Acklam Hall was owned by Sir Francis Boynton.

William Hustler was a cloth merchant from Bridlington.

Seeking to acquire a country estate close to the River Tees, from where he could trade, he rented the Acklam Grange from Sir Francis Boynton. The estate stretched much further than the existing estatre. It comprised the whole of the Acklam township and parts of Ayresome, Middlesbrough and Linthorpe.

In 1637, after the death of Sir Francis Boynton, William Hustler bought the Acklam Estate from Sir Matthew Boynton, son of Sir Francis.

It is William Hustler’s grandson, also called William Hustler, who was responsible for the present Acklam Hall.

Between 1680 and 1683 William Hustler (1655- 1730) built Acklam Hall as a two-storey building, in the contemporary fashionable style, showing some Dutch influence.

In 1688 William was knighted by Charles II.

Although there have always been rumours that Charles II visited the Hall, there is no evidence that he ever did so.

Sir William Hustler died in 1730, aged 75. In his will Sir William specified that the estate must pass to male descendents. This has had some interesting consequences.

Sir William’s son James Hustler died in 1769 and left no descendents. The Hall passed to his nephew Thomas Pierce, who changed his name to Hustler.

The Hall passed to Thomas Hustler’s son – Thomas Hustler - in 1802 , but when Thomas died in 1819, aged just 31, the Hall passed to a nephew from Philadelphia, also called Thomas Hustler. Thomas was closely involved in the early development of Middlesbrough.until his death in 1874. Thomas was succeeded by his son, William Thomas Hustler.

It was under Thomas that the Hall was altered. In 1845 various modifications were carried out to suit the fashion of the time.

An engraving of Acklam Hall in 1845 after changes in the Early Victorian Gothic Style had been made by Thomas Hustler.

In 1864 Catherine Eliza Hustler had married William Randolf Innes Hopkins of Grey Towers Nunthorpe, a man closely involved in the development of the ironworks.

When William Thomas died in 1909, the estate passed to William Thomas’ nephew William Hustler Hopkins, who changed his name to William Hustler Hustler.

William Hustler Hustler was responsible for modifications that gave us the Hall as we see it today.

William Hustler Hustler had a number of significant modifications to the Hall to make the Hall more suitable for an Edwardian family and household implemented in 1912:

• A flat roof dining room was added to the right of the Hall
• The south façade was re-modelled
• A heating systems was installed
• The main roof was raised to provide a second floor to accommodate servants’ bedrooms and domestic offices, and four visitors’ bedrooms and bathroom. To do this the staircase had to be extended upwards and the ornate ceiling light window had to be raised!

An old picture of Acklam Hall. When the adjacent shopping parade was built in the 1960's the schoolroom was changed to shops. The schoolmaster's house is now a doctor's surgery.

William Hustler was the last of the Hustlers to reside at Acklam Hall. He died at Claridges Hotel in London on 7 July 1927. He was buried in Acklam churchyard.

In 1928 the Hall was put up for auction by Mostyn Hustler. The auctioneer’s list suggests that no bids were received, and Middlesbrough Corporation’s offer of £11,500 was accepted. As a result Middlesbrough Corporation acquired 55.41 acres of land, including the tree-lined avenue and land stretching to present-day Ladgate Lane, for £11,500.

The Corporation spent a further £22,000 on clearing out-buildings, adapting, extending and furnishing the property to enable it to open as a school in 1935.

Acklam Hall’s role as a private family residence – which has lasted 248 years – was at an end. From now on its role would be to provide a home for pupils and students.

The Hustler family had actually had a previous link with education. There had been a school in Acklam since 1758, Acklam Village National School was founded in 1822 and in 1871 moved to premises at 283 Acklam Road, a one-room building with an adjoining house built by Thomas Hustler. The school closed somewhere between 1906 and 1914, and the building became a doctor’s surgery.

Middlesbrough High School for Boys was established in 1870 in Grange Road.

A High School for Girls was opened in 1874.

Both schools transferred to new buildings on King Edwards’ Road in 1877.

The Kirby Secondary School on Roman Road was opened on 17 October 1911. The opening ceremony was performed by HRH Prince Arthur of Connaught, who also that same day opened the Transporter Bridge.

The School subsequently became Kirby Girls Grammar School and in 1967 moved to Acklam.

In September 1935 Acklam Hall Secondary School opened to boys.

The School consisted of the following accommodation:

• Art Room (previously the Dining room)
• Library (previously the Entrance hall)
• Geography Room (previously the Smoking room)
• Headmaster’s Room (previously the Boudoir)•
• Dining Room and Kitchen (now gone).

On the first floor there were four classrooms, a Staff Room (room A22, previously the Queen’s Room) and an Assembly Hall (previously the Drawing room).

On the second floor were eight classrooms and a Prefects’ room.

The north wing of the Hall had been demolished and in its place were built gymnasium, changing room and showers, chemistry and physics labs, metalwork and woodwork rooms.

Acklam Hall Secondary School opened with 231 pupils.

The official opening took place on 23 July 1936 and was carried out by Councillor John Wesley Brown, Chairman of the Education Committee, after which there was a display of physical training followed by tea on the lawn.

Click to view the online archive of the Official Opening Book

The first headmaster was Mr R Gill, who succeeded by Mr J Hurst from 1947 and Mr W Rowlands from 1966.

Click to view the online archive of the Official Report Book

By 1951 the school had expanded such that extensions were necessary.

Between 1951 and 1958 the remaining ornamental gardens were removed and the extensions built for Acklam Hall Grammar School, consisting of an Assembly Hall, woodwork and art rooms and classrooms, at a cost of £82,046. The extensions enabled the school to accommodate 540 pupils, including 90 in the sixth-form.

It was however noted in 1958 that ‘attic bedrooms can have their disadvantages when used as classrooms’!

The development of further education in Middlesbrough was determined by the growth in student numbers of Constantine College of Technology and its transformation from a centre for all vocational further education courses to an institution of higher education, initially as Teesside Polytechnic and subsequently as the University of Teesside.

Decentralisation began in 1954 with the administrative and physical removal of Art courses from Constantine College (although the permanent College of Art building did not open until 1958).

Pressure of numbers saw the use of large amounts of temporary accommodation in various parts of Middlesbrough and it was a relief when in September 1958 Longlands College, on Douglas Street, opened as an annexe to Constantine College.

The administrative separation of Longlands College from its parent took place in September 1959, on the basis that Longlands would provide less advanced courses, with priority being given to engineering. In subsequent years the college would offer courses relevant to many of the local industries: Chemical Plant Operation, Pattern Making and Foundry Technology, Electrical Installation, Instrumentation, Telecommunications, Motor Vehicle Mechanics, Naval Architecture, Metallurgy and Plumbing.

However the early Longlands College offered a much wider range of courses: a prospectus for the year 1961 indicates that under the Principal Mr J Wood the College also offered courses in Hairdressing, Horticulture, Bread Making, Cake Decorations and even for those wishing to train as Dental Technicians!

Extensions to Constantine College of Technology and concern that Victorian buildings were inappropriate for twentieth century education prompted Middlesbrough High School to relocate in 1959 to new premises on Marton Road.

From September 1965 Longlands College was joined by another further education provider, West Middlesbrough College of Further Education.

The nucleus of the new college had been created by the transfer from Constantine College of Technology of commercial, secretarial and GCE courses. In 1966 the College assumed responsibility for courses in bread-making, hairdressing, pre-nursing and horticulture, which had previously been offered at the Longlands College of Further Education.

In 1967 the Women’s Educational Centre based in The Barns building on Orchard Road became the Department of Food and Fashion and was integrated into the College.

The College was originally housed in the former Middlesbrough Girls High School building in King Edward’s Road and in an annexe in Marton Grove. However it was always the intention that the college would occupy the premises vacated by Kirby Girls Grammar School on Roman Road.

In 1967 Acklam Hall Grammar School for Boys merged with Kirby Girls’ Grammar School (which was then closed) to become the 13-18 non-selective, co-educational Acklam High School.

Between 1968 and 1971 the last flower beds were removed and two modern annexes were added, to the front and to either side of the Acklam Hall building– the Main School Block and the Sixth Form Block, the latter accommodating 540 pupils.

The Sixth form Building was officially opened on 17 September 1971 by Sir William pile, Permanent Under-Secretary of state at the Department of Education and Science.

In 1968 the West Middlesbrough College of Further Education relocated to Roman Road, where from 1966 onwards the premises had been extended to include a five-storey teaching block and a two-storey communal block, and became Kirby College of Further Education.

The College’s buildings were situated on Douglas Street. On 27 November 1968 extensions to Longlands College of Further Education were officially opened by Mrs Shirley Williams, MP, Minister of State, Department of Education and Science. The extensions which cost nearly £700,000 doubled the area of the buildings and included a new four-storey wing, workshops and a sports hall.

In September 1972 the Kirby College premises at Roman Road were extended.

A new wing including specialist catering, hairdressing, and office-practice facilities, as well as improved library and communal facilities was officially opened in September 1972 by the Lord Boyle of Handsworth. At this time the Principal was Mr G J Edwards and the College accommodated 520 full time and 5,000 part time students.

In 1974 there was a major change in post-16 education in Cleveland with the establishment of a number of Sixth Form Colleges.

The premises of Middlesbrough High School on Marton Road became the base for Marton Sixth Form College.

In September 1974 Acklam High School split to form Kings Manor 11-16 School and Acklam Sixth Form College, each occupying one of two new teaching blocks in front of the original Manor House, with accommodation in the Manor House being shared.

The Kings Manor building suffered the fate of being destroyed by fire, following which King’s Manor School moved across Hall Drive to the site shared with Hall Garth School. The block was finally demolished in 1997. leaving Acklam Sixth Form College as the sole occupant of the site.

In 1987 Longlands College acquired the Prissick Building on the Marton Campus and thus became a neighbour to Marton Sixth Form College with whom it would subsequently merge.

Subsequent visitors to the College included Sir Keith Joseph and David Steel, MP.

During the latter part of the twentieth century there were a number of significant developments for further education.

The Further and Higher Education Act 1992 removed control of colleges from local authority control.

In August 1995 Longlands College merged with Marton Sixth Form College to create Teeesside Tertiary College.

At the same time Kirby College merged with Acklam Sixth Form College to form Middlesbrough College.

The present Middlesbrough College came together on 1 August 2002 as the consequence of the merger of Middlesbrough College and Teesside Tertiary College.

With the merger began the planning that led to the relocation of the College to its new site at Middlehaven in September 2008.