St Joseph's Seminary

St Joseph's College was established in 1880 by Bishop Bernard O'Reilly as a seminary for the North West of England. The foundation stone was blessed and laid by Dr. O'Reilly on St. Joseph's Day, 19 March 1880. A report in the Liverpool Mercury from 19 April 1880 mentioned that thousands attended the event, emphasizing the significance of the seminary for training priests for the diocese. Canon Walker encouraged the community to support the project and pray for its success.

Gilbert Hayes funded the construction of a new wing with a donation of £17,000. The Tablet reported on 11 March 1882, praising the seminary's ambitious design, which would form a large quadrangle, larger than those at Oxford and Cambridge. The building featured a long corridor, class and reception rooms, a dining hall, and a temporary chapel. The college was described as three stories high, with forty bedrooms, solid stone walls, and a practical design.

St Joseph's College officially opened in 1883 in Walthew Park, Up Holland. Prior to this, the first Junior Seminary in the Diocese was founded at St Edward's College in 1842. After the junior seminarians moved to St Joseph's in 1920, St Edward's became run by the Christian Brothers and later served as the Liverpool Cathedral Choir School.

St Joseph's College, often called "Up Holland" by students, was one of two main seminaries serving northern England, alongside Ushaw College. The junior seminary provided education for boys aged 11-18, while the senior seminary trained young men aged 18-24 in philosophy and theology. A book detailing life at the junior seminary in the 1960s, titled Boys of the Cloth, discussed how training might have contributed to exploitative behavior by some priests.

Although Up Holland prospered until the 1960s, changes in society led to decreased enrollment. By the early 1970s, northern bishops made decisions to consolidate seminaries, leading to all junior seminarians attending Up Holland and senior seminarians moving to Ushaw. Despite being the only junior seminary in northern England, Up Holland continued to see a decline, and by the 1980s, it was described as a "boarding school for boys considering a vocation. "

In 1986, student numbers fell to 82, with 54 being Church students, making the seminary unviable. From 1987, students lived at Up Holland but attended classes elsewhere until the last students left in 1992. Meanwhile, after the senior seminary moved, former senior rooms became the Up Holland Northern Institute in 1976, led by Father Kevin Kelly and later Father Vincent Nichols, who would become Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. The college grounds later served as a retreat and conference center under Monsignor John Devine's leadership.

In 1996, Archbishop Patrick Kelly decided to close St Joseph's, leading to the property's sale for development. Anglo International planned to convert the historic buildings into apartments, which caused controversy regarding the financial viability of St Joseph’s and the handling of donated art and artifacts. Donors were not given the option to reclaim their contributions.

Please excuse the poor quality of these photographs, this location was visited very early in my Urbex journey.