- Joined
- Jun 3, 2014
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Been a while since i have been on the forums. What a place to get back out. Great morning this one spent in good company. Visited this awesome place with Urblex, Hamtagger (cool to meet you mate),Paul 2129 off 28DL and his friend Kirsty. Urblex was the man of the hour on this one, as he had been afew weeks previous on a successful explore. With him showing us the way we where in this massive playground with out to much trouble. We had not been in long at all when we heard voices coming from the floor below. Turned out to be Lavino off 28DL and his mate. Nice to meet you lads and thanks for showing us bits we might otherwise had missed. I'm with Hamtagger on the next encounter. During the confusion and discomfort of the alarm screaming away i also thought the tall lad dressed all in black was the security and the mooch was over. Not really sure what happened next but we where unfortunately spilt from Hamtagger for a while. We did manage to stumble on the sinks which was very nice. A features I never new anything out.
Spent a good four hours in awe and amazement exploring this spot. The variation in features and decay is stunning. Spent parts of the explore with Lavino and his mate and thankfully met back up with Hamtagger and spent most of the explore with him. Never did see the mysterious man in black again, maybe he was one of the people we could hear setting alarms off around this wonderful place.
St Joseph's College was founded in 1880 by Bishop Bernard O'Reilly to be the Seminary serving the North West of England. The college was formally opened in 1883 and was situated in Walthew Park, Upholland, the geographic centre of the Diocese of Liverpool.The first Junior Seminary of the Diocese was founded at St Edward's College in 1842 as a Catholic 'classical and commercial school' under the direction of the secular clergy and was established in Domingo House, a mansion in Everton. Its President for the next forty years was to be Monsignor Provost John Henry Fisher. When the junior seminarians moved to St Joseph's in 1920 the school was taken over by the Christian Brothers (who also ran St John Rigby College in nearby Orrell) and continues to this day and now serves as the Liverpool Cathedral Choir School. In recognition of the heritage owed to St Edward's College one of the two chapels at Upholland was consecrated as the St Edward the Confessor Chapel.
Although Upholland flourished until the 1960s, the rapidly changing social climate in that decade led to a sharp drop in enrolment. In the early 1970s, the northern bishops decided to consolidate the activities of Upholland and Ushaw; from 1972 all junior seminarians in the north attended Upholland, and from 1975 all senior seminarians attended Ushaw. Even as the sole junior seminary for the north of England, however, Upholland continued to suffer a decline in enrolment, and by the 1980s was no longer a traditional seminary but a "boarding school for boys considering a vocation". In 1986 the total number of students was down to 82, of whom only 54 were Church students, and it was no longer viable to educate them on the premises. From 1987 the remaining students attended St. John Rigby College in nearby Orrell for their schooling, an arrangement that continued until the very last of these students left Upholland in 1992.
The election of Archbishop Patrick Kelly saw the controversial decision to close St Joseph's altogether and the property was sold to Anglo International who instructed AEW Architects for the conversion of the Grade 2 listed RC Seminary to 92 apartments, with 220 new build enabling units. The major controversies of the decision were the ongoing financial viability of St Joseph's (it had just started to make a small surplus under Devine's management) and the sale and disposal of the art and artefacts in the college, much of which had been donated by various parishes and people of the Archdiocese who were not offered their donations back.
The building has acted as a film location for the McQueen Church explosion in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks and in 2012 Lacey Turner filmed scenes for the TV series Bedlam. In March 2013, the feature film 'Noble', based on the life of Christina Noble, filmed scenes at the college where it doubled as an orphanage.
Thanks for looking.
Spent a good four hours in awe and amazement exploring this spot. The variation in features and decay is stunning. Spent parts of the explore with Lavino and his mate and thankfully met back up with Hamtagger and spent most of the explore with him. Never did see the mysterious man in black again, maybe he was one of the people we could hear setting alarms off around this wonderful place.
St Joseph's College was founded in 1880 by Bishop Bernard O'Reilly to be the Seminary serving the North West of England. The college was formally opened in 1883 and was situated in Walthew Park, Upholland, the geographic centre of the Diocese of Liverpool.The first Junior Seminary of the Diocese was founded at St Edward's College in 1842 as a Catholic 'classical and commercial school' under the direction of the secular clergy and was established in Domingo House, a mansion in Everton. Its President for the next forty years was to be Monsignor Provost John Henry Fisher. When the junior seminarians moved to St Joseph's in 1920 the school was taken over by the Christian Brothers (who also ran St John Rigby College in nearby Orrell) and continues to this day and now serves as the Liverpool Cathedral Choir School. In recognition of the heritage owed to St Edward's College one of the two chapels at Upholland was consecrated as the St Edward the Confessor Chapel.
Although Upholland flourished until the 1960s, the rapidly changing social climate in that decade led to a sharp drop in enrolment. In the early 1970s, the northern bishops decided to consolidate the activities of Upholland and Ushaw; from 1972 all junior seminarians in the north attended Upholland, and from 1975 all senior seminarians attended Ushaw. Even as the sole junior seminary for the north of England, however, Upholland continued to suffer a decline in enrolment, and by the 1980s was no longer a traditional seminary but a "boarding school for boys considering a vocation". In 1986 the total number of students was down to 82, of whom only 54 were Church students, and it was no longer viable to educate them on the premises. From 1987 the remaining students attended St. John Rigby College in nearby Orrell for their schooling, an arrangement that continued until the very last of these students left Upholland in 1992.
The election of Archbishop Patrick Kelly saw the controversial decision to close St Joseph's altogether and the property was sold to Anglo International who instructed AEW Architects for the conversion of the Grade 2 listed RC Seminary to 92 apartments, with 220 new build enabling units. The major controversies of the decision were the ongoing financial viability of St Joseph's (it had just started to make a small surplus under Devine's management) and the sale and disposal of the art and artefacts in the college, much of which had been donated by various parishes and people of the Archdiocese who were not offered their donations back.
The building has acted as a film location for the McQueen Church explosion in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks and in 2012 Lacey Turner filmed scenes for the TV series Bedlam. In March 2013, the feature film 'Noble', based on the life of Christina Noble, filmed scenes at the college where it doubled as an orphanage.
Thanks for looking.
