Please bare with me this is my first exploration upload on here apologies for the photo quality was about half 1 in the morning and only had my phone when driving past it. This has to be one of the most eerie explores I’ve done granted doing it at half one in the morning probably added more to that and with it being a full moon we’ll yeah says it all. This place has quite the history of child abuse and a story is told within some of the graffiti around the place. The building itself has definitely seen better days with the second floor and top floor being virtually impossible to go further than the initial stairs going up, the first staircase I came across was completely destroyed thankfully there was a second more sturdy one.
St Peter's Orphanage for Roman Catholic Boys was established in 1900 at Main Road, Gainford. The purpose-built premises could accommodate 300 boys, aged from 2 to 10 years at their date of admission.
On 30th August, 1901, St Peter's was accredited for use as a Certified School, allowing it to receive boys boarded out by the workhouse authorities, who paid 6s. a week for each child they placed.
At the start of the Second World War, the boys at St Peter's were transferred to the St Mary's Home at Tudhoe, with the Gainford site then being used temporarily to house inmates evacuated from St Aidan's Approved School at Widnes. On 1st April, 1940, St Peter's was itself accredited for use as an Approved School, taking up to 120 Roman Catholic boys aged below their 13th birthday at their date of admission. The School provided its inmates with training in carpentry, building and horticulture. The School was then managed by the Hexham and Newcastle Rescue Society.
In 1973, the establishment became St Peter's Community School — a Community Home with Education (CHE), run in conjunction with Teesside Borough Council.
Due to financial pressures, the School was closed in 1984, with the building and land being sold to a local consortium for £130,000. The purchasers subsequently sold off some of the dwellings and converted one wing into a nursing home for the elderly. From the mid-1990s, however, the main building was left standing empty.
St Peter's Orphanage for Roman Catholic Boys was established in 1900 at Main Road, Gainford. The purpose-built premises could accommodate 300 boys, aged from 2 to 10 years at their date of admission.
On 30th August, 1901, St Peter's was accredited for use as a Certified School, allowing it to receive boys boarded out by the workhouse authorities, who paid 6s. a week for each child they placed.
At the start of the Second World War, the boys at St Peter's were transferred to the St Mary's Home at Tudhoe, with the Gainford site then being used temporarily to house inmates evacuated from St Aidan's Approved School at Widnes. On 1st April, 1940, St Peter's was itself accredited for use as an Approved School, taking up to 120 Roman Catholic boys aged below their 13th birthday at their date of admission. The School provided its inmates with training in carpentry, building and horticulture. The School was then managed by the Hexham and Newcastle Rescue Society.
In 1973, the establishment became St Peter's Community School — a Community Home with Education (CHE), run in conjunction with Teesside Borough Council.
Due to financial pressures, the School was closed in 1984, with the building and land being sold to a local consortium for £130,000. The purchasers subsequently sold off some of the dwellings and converted one wing into a nursing home for the elderly. From the mid-1990s, however, the main building was left standing empty.
