University of Wales, Lampeter

University of Wales, Lampeter (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, Llanbedr Pont Steffan) was a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822, and incorporated by royal charter in 1828, it was the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales, with limited degree awarding powers since 1852. It was a self-governing college of the University of Wales from 1972 until its merger (under its 1828 charter) with Trinity University College in 2010 to form the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The university was founded as St David's College (Coleg Dewi Sant), becoming St David's University College (Coleg Prifysgol Dewi Sant) in 1971, when it became part of the federal University of Wales. With fewer than 2,000 students on campus, it was often claimed to be one of the smallest public universities in Europe.

When Thomas Burgess was appointed Bishop of St David's in 1803, he saw a need for a college in which Welsh ordinands could receive a higher education. The existing colleges at Oxford and Cambridge were out of the geographical and financial means of most would-be students.

Burgess had no Welsh connections; he was born in Odiham, Hampshire in 1756. After education at Winchester College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he had short stays in Salisbury and Durham before being appointed to his first bishopric in Wales in 1803. Burgess intended to build his new college to train priests in Llanddewi Brefi which, at the time, was similar in size to Lampeter but ten kilometres from it and with an honoured place in the Christian history of Wales. When Burgess was staying with his friend the Bishop of Gloucester in 1820, however, he met John Scandrett Harford, a wealthy landowner from Gloucestershire. Harford donated the 3 acres (1.2 ha) Castle Field site in Lampeter, named after the Norman castle once contained in the field. This is the site on which the present University stands.

St David's College was thus founded just outside Lampeter; the foundation stone was laid in 1822. Burgess left St. David's in 1825 to become Bishop of Salisbury but work on the college continued, largely supervised by Harford. The £16,000 required to erect the college had been raised from public donations, a government grant and highly publicised gifts, including one from King George IV. The main college building was completed in 1827 and the college officially opened on St. David's Day of that year, welcoming its first 26 students. As such, it was the oldest institution of higher education in Wales, and the third oldest in England and Wales, receiving its first charter in 1828. In 1852, the college gained the right to award the degree of Bachelor of Divinity (BD) and, in 1865, the degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA), long before the other colleges in Wales gained their own degree awarding powers. As early as 1865, when a campaign had commenced to establish a University for Wales, there were suggestions that the college should take on this function. However, they were opposed by those who believed it should retain its original purpose as a theological college.

Although it continued as a centre of clergy training until 1978, there was always a proportion of students who did not intend to be ordained. The 1896 charter specifically stated that the college could accept anyone, regardless of whether they intended to take Holy Orders. Since 1925, it had been possible to study for a BA at the college without studying any theology at all. However, throughout the college's history, non-ordinands had been in a minority. In the 1950s the number of ordinands declined sharply and the college faced possible closure unless it could secure government funding. Principal J.R. Lloyd Thomas did not spare himself in the fight for survival and, in 1960, after much negotiation, University College, Cardiff, agreed to sponsor Saint David's. Thus the government finally began to assist SDC financially.

Following the appointment of Rowland Williams as vice principal in 1849, and inspired by the "muscular Christianity" movement, the college passed a rule in 1850 stating that students "should spend their spare time in healthful exercise rather than in clownish lounging about the shops or market place". This led to the formation of a cricket team, which played its first match (against Lampeter Town) in 1852. Williams is thought to have introduced rugby union at Lampeter in the 1850s, where the first recorded rugby game in Wales was played (against Llandovery College) in 1866.

In 1971, the college became a member of the federal University of Wales and suspended its own degree-awarding powers. It became St David's University College (SDUC). By this time, the college had begun shifting its specialisms and, whilst theology continued to be a strong point, students could choose from a much wider range of liberal arts subjects. In 1996, the Privy Council—in response to a petition from the university—agreed to change its title again to the University of Wales, Lampeter in line with moves elsewhere in the university and the recognition of its growth and changing status. In September 2007, the University of Wales become confederal rather than federal in nature, effectively giving Lampeter independent university status. Unlike other former Wales colleges however, the institution's name remained unchanged.