Report - St. Joseph's Seminary - Upholland - October 2014

[RichPDG]

The History:

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.
St. Joseph’s (usually referred to by its students simply as "Upholland") was one of two main seminaries serving the north of England. Upholland served the northwest, 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 as they prepared for the priesthood. A detailed account of daily life in the junior seminary at Upholland during the 1960s was published in 2012.[1] This account also explores the reasons why the Church's traditional form of seminary training may have predisposed certain priests to molest children, which was one of the key findings of a major investigation conducted on behalf of American bishops into the causes of the sexual abuse crisis within the US Catholic Church.[2]

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.[3] 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 explore:
With previous trips to St. Joe's having fallen through on previous occasions, this was the day I'd finally get to see the place. Visited with CatVstyle and a few other non-members, we were not disappointed. We managed to make our way around most of the site and even got to see the sinks without the alarm being triggered. As soon as we got into the chapel though, all hell was let loose and the inevitable happened. In the end we never did get caught and got in and out without a hitch. Met some great people and had a brilliant day out. On with the pictures

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Thanks for looking! ​

 

[Will Knot]

Great report and pics there

I know its been hammered a lot recently but the explore is epic, awesome building and features! Can get a little noisy sometimes!! :crazy

Thanks for postin'

 

[Monkey]

Nice set of images

 

[huey]

What a place,could spend hours there,lovely pics too,nice report!

 

[RichPDG]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Was nice to finally get this one done although I think a re-visit is needed

 

[Deredoer]

Spended shots and picture 13 is just magic.

 

[f3lix]

Brilliant pictures here buddy!