Urbex: St Josephs Seminary Upholland, Lancashire, United Kingdom

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – Dorms

History

Briefly, the abandoned St Joseph’s College, Upholland is a former Roman Catholic seminary, situated at Walthew Park, Upholland, Lancashire, England. The foundation of the large building were laid in April 1880 and college was opened in 1883. The buildings have recently been deconsecrated following the announced closure of the College which saw the last students leave in 1992.

The seminary 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.

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.

A more detailed history can be found in my initial report from June 2013 here.

Our Visit

My third trip to this place, visited this time with Lowri, Shush, Mars Lander and Sssshhhh. After the initial visit to this mammoth place I was left wanting more. A second trip proved to be fruitless as our previous way in had been sealed and after searching for over an hour we couldn’t see any further open access points. When we heard about another potential opening we jumped at the chance and set up plans for another early morning trip :D. Similar to the first trip, this one was equally as eventful! I’ll not go into detail but this place doesn’t fail to get the heart pumping that’s for sure!! Whilst we covered much of the same places as the first trip I tried where possible to capture a few different angles, and thankfully we managed to access the main chapel (albeit only for a short time before having to make our exit). Highlight of the day had to be the group shots in the library and being tied to a bed whilst Lowri posed as a blood soaked nurse taking my heartbeat for some photos whilst a dead rat nibbled at my crotch… mega lolz :).

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – The Library

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – The Main Courtyard

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – As high as you can get

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – A long way down

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – Bed Time

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – The Magic Carpet

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – The Dorms

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – Jesus Christ

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – The Dorms

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – The 3 Buckets

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – Corridors

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – Chessboard Ceiling

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – Staircase

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – Study Hall

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – Chessboard Ceiling

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – Study Hall

St Josephs Seminary Upholland – The Guardians

Don’t forget to check out Part 2 for more photos, including the group shots and some of the main chapel.

If you’ve made it this far… thanks for reading / checking out the pictures. Leave me a comment below or hit the like button to let me know you’ve enjoyed the shots and to encourage me to keep posting more 🙂

Canvas prints and regular prints are available for all of the images above just ask me about prices.

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Tony says:

March 12, 2014 at 5:59 pm

Well done. Your photos show clearly a disgraceful neglect of a magnificent building with a great history. I went to school there and it is truly shocking to see how its has been left to rot. I had no idea. lets hope someone sees it who can do something about it

PROJ3CTM4YH3M says:

March 12, 2014 at 7:27 pm

Hi Tony! I agree it is sad to see the place get into such disrepair! The odd thing is that they appear to be tending to the grounds and even cutting the grass in the inner courtyard but yet the roof is really suffering! I bet the place looked quite different when it was up and running and full of people and thing?

All the best PM

insnapout says:

January 28, 2014 at 6:01 pm

Great shots……the police are using this place a lot for training their dogs……I live very close, no legal way in I’m afraid Kathryn

January 29, 2014 at 7:33 pm

Thanks 🙂 I heard they do use the building quite alot, thanks for the heads up I dont think i’ll be going back for a long while 😀

Kathryn says:

November 16, 2013 at 11:11 am

Hi, your photos are absolutely stunning. I was just wondering if you had any contact information to be able to take photos legally? I’m not really sure how I would go about finding who to contact. I’m a photographer and have taken many pictures of derelict locations and would love to be able to photography this place. Thank you. Kathryn

November 16, 2013 at 9:04 pm

Hi Kathryn, Sorry I don’t know who you would need to contact. All my shots were taken without permission. All the best PM.

alex swanson says:

October 28, 2013 at 8:52 am

attended upholland in the 1950’s. now 73 and living in thailand

didnt know this web site existed, but what memories it brings back

a lot of water gone under the bridge since then!!

October 30, 2013 at 6:25 pm

Hi Alex,

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Sounds like you are living the good life now! I trust Thailand is treating you well? I hope you enjoyed the photographs, Its sad to see the place going to ruin, I think they are supposed to be trying to salvage it to build apartments but who knows…

Thanks again and all the best

Urbex: St Josephs Seminary Upholland, Lancashire, United Kingdom – September 2013 (revisit) Part 1 of 2

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