Didsbury School of Education
| Didsbury Campus | |
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The Admin Building on the Didsbury Campus
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| Type | University |
| Location | Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2RR |
| Coordinates | 53°24′43″N 2°13′49″W / 53.4120°N 2.2302°WCoordinates: 53°24′43″N 2°13′49″W / 53.4120°N 2.2302°W |
| Built | 1785, 1842 |
| Built for | Wesleyan Methodist Church |
| Architect | Richard Lane |
| Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical |
| Governing body | Privately owned |
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Listed Building – Grade II*
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| Official name: Administration Building at Didsbury Campus, Manchester Metropolitan University | |
| Designated | 25 February 1952 |
| Reference no. | 458452 |
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Listed Building – Grade II
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| Official name: Old Chapel Building at Didsbury Campus, Manchester Metropolitan University | |
| Designated | 6 June 1994 |
| Reference no. | 458453 |
 Location of Didsbury Campus in Greater Manchester
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The Didsbury Campus was a campus of Manchester Metropolitan University, located on Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester, England. It was originally the site of a private estate, with the oldest building dating to around 1785, and became a theological college for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1842. A chapel was also built around this time, and later became part of the college. These buildings are all now listed.
In 1946, in response to a growing need for new teachers across the country, the site became a temporary teacher training college, becoming permanent in 1950. Over the next thirty years there was a significant building programme, with classrooms, lecture theatres, offices, sports facilities and a library all being constructed. The college became a part of Manchester Polytechnic (later Manchester Metropolitan University) in 1977. In 2005, the campus became home to the Science Learning Centre North West.
The university closed the campus in 2014, and sold the land to developers, with facilities moving to a new purpose-built campus named Birley Fields in Hulme. All the buildings constructed after World War II were demolished, with only the listed buildings remaining. These are currently being converted into homes, and the rest of the site is undergoing redevelopment as a residential area.
According to local historian Diana Leitch, the site has been in use since 1465, with the first house being built in 1603 as part of a large estate with a deer park. In 1740, the site was purchased by the Broome family, and a new house was constructed after 1785 by William Broome, extant today as the front part of the former administration building of the university, now known as Sandhurst House. By 1812, the house was occupied by a Colonel Parker, and in the 1820s and 1830s the house was used as a girls' school. The site was purchased by the Wesleyan Methodist Church on 18 March 1841 for £2,000, and opened as a theological college on 22 September 1842 with a special service. The construction and later renovations were paid for from a centenary fund, an initiative started ten years previously by the Methodist scholar Adam Clarke.
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