BUILDINGS at an all-girl college have finally acquired names - 50 years after the institution moved to its present site.

Former principals of St Mary's College were honoured yesterday as the current crop of undergraduates marked the golden jubilee of its move to Elvet Hill, Durham.

St Mary's, which began as a hostel for female students, in Claypath, Durham, in 1899, became a fully-fledged college of Durham University in 1920.

It remains the only single sex college outside Oxford and Cambridge, with 700 members, 330 living on campus in the Elvet Hill halls of residence.

Former St Mary's heads Irene Prowse (nee Calvert) and Joan Kenworthy joined the latest principal, Jenny Hobbs, on the top table at yesterday's ceremony, staged as part of a lunch to mark the 50 years on-site.

They were joined by the president of the college's senior common room, Gwyneth Cole, who witnessed the laying of the Foundation Stone by the then Princess Elizabeth, now the Queen, in 1947.

Mrs Cole went on to become one of the first occupants of the new building when it opened in October 1952.

To mark the golden jubilee "the main building" at St Mary's will now be known as the Fergusson Building, after former principal Margaret Fergusson (1940-55).

The "new building" has become the Williamson Building, after Ms Fergusson's successor Marjorie Williamson (1955-62).

St Mary's conference hall becomes the Kenworthy Hall, after Miss Kenworthy (1977-99), the committee room is now the Calvert Room, after Irene Calvert (1974-77), and two seminar rooms will be named after Rachel Donaldson (1915-40) and Mary Holdsworth (1962-74).

Mrs Hobbs said she was delighted to commemorate the contribution made by her predecessors, who each played a part in shaping "the vibrant and successful" community at St Mary's.