Trinity Hall, the women's residence for Trinity College Dublin opened in 1908, four years after the admission of women to the College. It was situated in Dartry in the suburbs of the city, at a discreet distance from the university campus. In its early years, under the leadership of the first distinguished warden, Miss E. M. Cunningham, it was run as a strictly female institution providing a sheltered environment for young women students. However, by the 1970s, social mores had changed and 'Hall' became co-educational with a male warden and it expanded into a main TCD university residence.

This history, undertaken to celebrate the centenary of the foundation of Trinity Hall, traces the development of the university residence as a feminist 'women's space' offering a pioneer residential experience for women students. Affectionately known as 'T-Hall,' it gradually developed into a large-scale campus of student apartments, which today houses over one thousand students. Yet many of the old 'Hall' traditions and values have survived, and it continues to provide a place apart where young students find friendship, support and intellectual stimulus.

Author
Rosa Pilcher, a graduate of Exeter University, was awarded a scholarship in 2008 to reside in Trinity Hall and research its history for a M.Sc. thesis in the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies, Trinity College, Dublin.

Editor
Susan M. Parkes is an emeritus Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. She is an authority on the history of Irish education and was editor of A Danger to the Men? A History of Women in Trinity College, Dublin, 1904-2004, (2004).