The mystery of Hepburn Hall (woooo!)

[RainbowPixie]

Recently while wandering home from town to Fife Park I?ve noticed a flurry of activity around Hepburn Hall. I jumped to the obvious conclusion that a desperate gang of international diamond thieves was setting up operations there, however was wondering if anyone else had any theories.

Also, anyone know why it closed in the first place? I?m thinking something to do with giant snakes and deaths of muggles?

[Anon]

The hall was a very small hall so I am assuming that it was clossed due to the cost of running it. It was sold off in 2000, not sure why then rather than just after it shut. The opinion of those in the know at the time was that the university had made a big finantial mistake selling it when they did and holding it so long.

I can not account for the new activity other than the new owners have got planning permision to do what the had intended and are now making their alterations. Proberbly legal due to the high police presence in the town. Then again they could be in preperation for 2006 when the world has forgotten who we are again.

[James Baster]

[s]RainbowPixie wrote on 18:14, 23rd Nov 2002:
I?m thinking something to do with giant snakes and deaths of muggles?

Oh god please no.

Also on that note, have people who take the no. 60 bus to edinburgh noticed that giant boarded up hotel called the white swan? It looks very securely boarded up from the bus, but I'm always (probaly stupidly) curious about whats inside.


[hr]
[s]Its nice to be able to blaspheme. It takes a very special and strong-minded kind of atheist to jump up and down with their hand clasped under their other armpit and shout 'Oh, random-flucuations-in-the-space-time-continuum!' or 'Aaargh, primitive-and-out-moded-concept on a crutch!' - Terry Pratchet, Men at arms[/s]

[Al]

The reason behind the closure of Hepburn Hall was the fact that the University finally got tired of people mispronouncing its name. Look at the evidence: all the halls with "tricky" names to pronouce have been given abbreviations -

St Salvator's Hall, St Regulus Hall, David Russell Hall, etc.

In fact, all the present halls have nicknames except Hamilton which no fool could mispronounce. Hepburn had no nickname and no one could say it right. It had to go!

[hr]"The greatest enjoyment from existence is living dangerously"

[KT]

sorry to be so thick but how exactly do you mispronounce Hepburn?

[Al]

I don't know how they managed it either, but they did.

[hr]"The greatest enjoyment from existence is living dangerously"

[Thackary]

Perhaps in the opposite way to how people mispronounce Cockburn.

Perhaps they were calling it "Hayburn"

[Al]

The hall, and Hepburn Gardens, is named after the Hepburn family which produced several Priors of St Andrews (one of whom co-founded St Leonard's College) and Mary, Queen of Scots' third husband. Their name is pronounced "Hebben" and not "Hep-burn". By extension, some people say that the hall and street should be pronounced in the same way.

[hr]"The greatest enjoyment from existence is living dangerously"

[Morgenhund]

I am sure that the reason to sell had nothing to do with the fact that the group Hepburn were not very successfully and now very forgotten, having reached their zenith around the time that Hepburn Hall became a Postgrad Hall... What other halls have vanished in St Andrews, other than Southgait Hall (on South Street next to Gin Palace/Ogstons)? And whatever next, whither Regs Annexe or Eden Court? Mike

[Al]

"What other halls have vanished in St Andrews?"

I can think of a few that I wish would vanish.......

[hr]"Life is a horizontal fall"

[barr]

back to the original post, the offical university reason for closing the hall i belive you will find is that the university was in the process of reducing numbers of students, and hence also the number of rooms, and it closed in a time when the university had surpless acomadation,

not sure what happened to this policy,

[Prophet Tenebrae]

It got dropped in favour of the "cram as many in as we can" policy, I believe.

[Jos Dad]

"What other halls have vanished in St Andrews?"

See http://www.kinnessburn.org.uk/

[Oli]

Al, is there any particular field that you DON'T know something about?

It amazes me.

[Oli]

And thanks for the information about Kinnessburn Hall, Jo's Dad. Interesting stuff.