Description

UP HOLLAND

SD50NW STONEY BROW, Roby Mill
783-1/2/121 (West side (off))
25/06/73 St Joseph's Roman Catholic College

II

Roman Catholic seminary, now theological institute. 1880-83.
By J O'Byrne for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Liverpool,
greatly enlarged and chapel added 1921-8 by Pugin and Pugin.
Coursed rock-faced sandstone with slate roofs, the original
building (now the west wing) in yellow sandstone with red
sandstone dressings and all the rest in red sandstone.
Large quadrangular plan formed by additions to the east and
south of the original building: the north wing in 1923; the
east wing in 1925; the south wing, its westward continuation
and the chapel to which this leads, all added in 1926-7.
Gothic style.
The original building, now forming the west side of the
quadrangle, 3 storeys plus an attic to the centre, 1:6:3:6:1
bays, is symmetrical, with a tall gabled centre: this has
buttresses, a large central doorway with double doors and a
3-light overlight, coupled 4-pane sashed windows at ground
floor, 1:2:1-light sashes at 1st floor, similar fenestration
at 2nd floor except that the centre windows are lancets, a
large clock-face at attic level flanked by coupled lancets,
and a louvred rectangular bellcote on the ridge with a swept
pavilion roof; the flanking ranges have sashed windows on all
floors, coupled at ground floor, single at 1st floor and
coupled at 2nd floor; and the end bays are gabled, with
coupled sashed windows on all floors.
The present entrance front is the south wing, which is 3 and 4
storeys over a basement, 3:7:3:7:3 windows, symmetrical, with
a rectangular 4-storey tower in the centre and square 4-storey
towers at the corners. The central tower has a gabled 2-storey
3-bay porte-cochere with a segmental-pointed arcade at ground
floor, cross-windows flanking a canopied niche at 1st floor,
and a stepped parapet; above this, the 2nd floor has two
2-centred arched 2-light windows and the 3rd floor has 3
cross-windows with arched upper lights, both with run-out
hoodmoulds, from the upper of which slender shafts rise to a
stepped and pierced parapet.
The 7-bay side ranges have mullion-and-transom windows at
ground and 1st floors, including shallow canted bays in the
centre and shallow oriels at 1st floor of the bays 2nd from
the centre; and mullioned windows with cusped lights at 2nd
floor. The 3-bay corner towers have sashed windows to the main
floors (differing slightly, and those at 2nd floor with arched
overlights), lancets to the top floor and parapets like that
in the centre.
The east wing, 2:7:2:7:2 bays with buttresses, the centre
breaking forwards slightly and finished with coupled gables,
is in simpler style, the basement forming a lower ground floor
with coupled segmental-pointed archways in the centre and a
segmental-pointed doorway at each end; pairs of single-light
sashed windows to each of the upper floors (those of the end
bays staggered, for staircases, and the others diminishing in
the height); and a slightly higher tower at the north end
surmounted by an observatory dome.
The courtyard facades of all 3 of the 1920s wings are
buttressed and have stepped triple-light windows at ground
floor with cusped lights; the south range has similar windows
at 1st floor and windows with similar cusped lights at 2nd
floor; the 16-bay north range has mostly 2 windows per bay;
and all these ranges have 3-light hipped dormer windows behind
the parapets.
The chapel, linked to the west end of the south wing on a
parallel axis, consists principally of a 9-bay choir and short
3-bay nave in one vessel, with a north transept and an
unfinished south tower to the latter, all with buttresses; the
choir has 2-centred arched 3-light windows with tracery (all
different); the 2-stage tower has a 2-light arched window at
ground floor, a pair of square-headed 2-light windows with
cusped lights at 1st floor, and a pyramidal roof. The west end
has triple gables, a 3-bay porch and a wide 2-centred arched
west window with circular tracery. The INTERIOR of the choir
has (inter alia) arcaded side walls, an impressive
double-tiered hammerbeam roof, Gothic choir stalls, and a
Gothic wooden screen.
HISTORY: became theological institute known as Upholland
Northern Institute in 1976, following transfer of seminary to
St Cuthbert's, Ushaw.
A large and impressive complex of buildings in a surprisingly
conservative style for the dates.

Listing NGR: SD5166006483

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26497318

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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