History:
This place has been covered many times so more of an update from me. I don't want to just copy and paste a big stream of text again so I’ll give as quick a overview as I can.
St Joseph's College is a former Roman Catholic seminary. The foundation of the large building was laid in April 1880 and college was opened in 1883. St Joseph's, usually referred to by its students simply as "Up Holland", was one of two main seminaries serving the north of England. Up Holland served the northwest and Ushaw College the northeast. For many years, each of these institutions housed both a junior (minor) and a senior (major) seminary. The junior seminaries provided a secondary education in a semi-monastic environment to boys aged 11–18 who wished to pursue the priesthood, while the senior seminaries trained adult candidates, mostly aged between 18 and 24, in philosophy and theology, preparing them for the priesthood.
St Joseph’s flourished until the 1970’s when gradual changes in society saw student numbers drop to the point that only the junior seminary was maintained. Numbers continued to drop still after to the point where the last students left in 1992 and the college was used as a retreat and conference centre by the archdiocese until it was controversially closed in 1996. Despite a lot of the
artefacts being donated by parishes they were all auctioned off leading to further controversy.
The site was sold off with the intention of converting part of the building to apartments, there were also plans to turn it into a hotel, all of which have failed to get approval and the owners have let it fall into disrepair.
The chapel was used for a Hollyoaks story and recent updates on the history include one of the priests being charged with the sexual abuse of several children.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-49168100
I also spoke with a former guard on the site who told me that a lot of the trees in the grounds including the tall Canadian redwoods came from seeds that the priests brought back from trips abroad and that the telescope mysteriously disappeared from the observatory only to turn up on the antiques roadshow years later.
The explore:
I’d heard it was tough to get in (and out!) and that certainly was true, narrow miss with the guard and a few cuts and grazes were worth it though.
This place has been covered many times so more of an update from me. I don't want to just copy and paste a big stream of text again so I’ll give as quick a overview as I can.
St Joseph's College is a former Roman Catholic seminary. The foundation of the large building was laid in April 1880 and college was opened in 1883. St Joseph's, usually referred to by its students simply as "Up Holland", was one of two main seminaries serving the north of England. Up Holland served the northwest and Ushaw College the northeast. For many years, each of these institutions housed both a junior (minor) and a senior (major) seminary. The junior seminaries provided a secondary education in a semi-monastic environment to boys aged 11–18 who wished to pursue the priesthood, while the senior seminaries trained adult candidates, mostly aged between 18 and 24, in philosophy and theology, preparing them for the priesthood.
St Joseph’s flourished until the 1970’s when gradual changes in society saw student numbers drop to the point that only the junior seminary was maintained. Numbers continued to drop still after to the point where the last students left in 1992 and the college was used as a retreat and conference centre by the archdiocese until it was controversially closed in 1996. Despite a lot of the
artefacts being donated by parishes they were all auctioned off leading to further controversy.
The site was sold off with the intention of converting part of the building to apartments, there were also plans to turn it into a hotel, all of which have failed to get approval and the owners have let it fall into disrepair.
The chapel was used for a Hollyoaks story and recent updates on the history include one of the priests being charged with the sexual abuse of several children.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-49168100
I also spoke with a former guard on the site who told me that a lot of the trees in the grounds including the tall Canadian redwoods came from seeds that the priests brought back from trips abroad and that the telescope mysteriously disappeared from the observatory only to turn up on the antiques roadshow years later.
The explore:
I’d heard it was tough to get in (and out!) and that certainly was true, narrow miss with the guard and a few cuts and grazes were worth it though.
