Northampton University's new Waterside Campus

Photographing the ruins of Northampton power station five summers ago, I wrote:

Soon it will be an attractive university campus full of bright young things ... living exciting lives and driving knowledge and the economy on. 

"Ah," I shall tell them, "but you should have seen it when it was a derelict power station."

I went back there a few weeks ago to take a look at Northampton University's new Waterside Campus and, sure enough, the first thing I came across was an open air performance of The Taming of the Shrew.

Anyway, here are its buildings. It turns out that the site of the power station is largely occupied by sports pitches, though it also home to the dubious-sounding International Leather Centre.

The land the university buildings are on was an Avon cosmetics factory until it was demolished at the end of 2010.

There is a bonus for lovers of railway history on the campus that I shall share with you another day.

So, for now, let's end with a reminder that Northampton had a university in the 13th century.