The County College, Lancaster

The County College
County College Arms
University	University of Lancaster
Motto	Sine Consilio Nihil "Nothing Without [The] Council"
Established	1967
Named for	Lancashire County Council
Sister college	Halifax College, York
Principal	Dr Karen Grant
Vice Principal	Dr Steve Dempster
JCR President	Anna Wood
Dean	Stuart Powers
Undergraduates	1500
Newspaper	Pendragon
Website	The County College The County JCR

The County College, mostly known as County College or County, is a constituent college of the University of Lancaster. The establishment of the college was financed through the benefaction of Lancashire County Council and it is named after it. The original college building, County Main, was opened by HM The Queen in 1969.

County college was the only college to be named after its benefactors, the County Council, who donated a generous sum of money towards its construction and promised to donate £50,000 a year for 10 years towards the university’s running costs. A commemorative plaque situated outside the college office remembers their generous contribution. It was decided that County college should be based upon the old Oxonian idea of building colleges around a quadrangle because it adds to the collegiate nature of the university and expresses the idea of an individual community. The only way that a square could be incorporated into County was around an old oak tree that had been spared as a sapling by an agricultural labourer over 200 years ago. This original college building is now known as County Main. The building was erected around the tree without damage to its roots. The College is very conscious of its responsibility for the health of the tree and beneath its shade are two bench seats erected in memory of two former College Officers.

The college residences were expanded in 1978 with the construction of County West. In 2004 the college further expanded, after being granted buildings that had been vacated by Cartmel College. These buildings have since been renovated and named County South and now house a relocated college bar. In October 2006 County South expanded with the opening of three large residence houses built on the site of demolished Cartmel College residence blocks.County West was demolished in August 2007 and in January 2008 the new construction of the 'Townhouses' on County Field was completed. Following this expansion, the existing 'County Main' block was also renovated to include modern standard accommodation on the top two floors and classrooms and offices on the bottom two floors.

An oak leaf is used as a symbol of the College, and it is included on its Coat of Arms which was granted by the College of Arms. The college unofficial motto is Do it for The Tree.