Olton Friary (formerly Diocesan Seminary College of St Bernard)

Summary

Former diocesan theological training college, built in 1873, founded by Bishop Ullathorne, designed by Edward Joseph Hansom (1842-1900) of Dunn and Hansom. In 1889 the seminary was closed and taken over by the Capuchin Friars. Since 1981 the site has been occupied by the Society of the Sacred Heart of Betharram.

Reasons for Designation

The late-C19 former diocesan seminary school, known as Olton Friary, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: it possess a strong Gothic design both internally and externally, and was designed by Edward Joseph Hansom, of Dunn and Hansom, an accomplished architect and firm who were responsible for many notable ecclesiastical buildings;

* Historic interest: it was founded by Bishop Bernard Ullathorne, the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Birmingham on the C19 re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy, an association reflected in the building’s decoration;

* Level of intactness: the internal arrangement of the building, in particular the former principal seminary rooms, has undergone relatively few alterations and the original plan of the college is still legible;

* Group value: it forms a strong group with the attached Church of the Holy Ghost and Mary Immaculate (listed at Grade II).

History

William Bernard Ullathorne (1806-1889) became the first Bishop of Birmingham in 1850 following the reintroduction of the English Catholic Church hierarchy. He held the strong belief that seminary schools should cater exclusively for church students and found the existing diocese seminary St Mary’s College in Oscott on the outskirts of Birmingham unsatisfactory due to the integrated education of lay students. In 1871 he acquired a forty-acre site in the area of Olton, to the south of Birmingham. He enlisted the architect Edward Joseph Hansom (1842-1900), of Dunn and Hansom, to design the school. Hansom’s original design was for a large central clock tower flanked by two L-shaped wings. Due to concerns over costs Ullathorne approved the building of only the left wing. The foundation stone was laid in 1872 and the college opened in 1873. It was dedicated to Ullathorne's patron saint, St Bernard, and Reverend Edward Isely (1838-1926) was chosen to run the school.

In 1888, Ullathorne was replaced as Bishop of Birmingham by Ilsley and the following year he passed away. In 1889 it was deemed that St Bernard’s did not have sufficient capacity to meet the growing requirements of the seminary college. Ilsely decided to move the school back to St Mary’s College at Oscott, which ceased its tuition of lay pupils. The Olton site was acquired by the Capuchin Friars of the English province, with the former seminary school becoming the Franciscan Monastery of the Immaculate Conception. A temporary public chapel was formed in the attached enclosed walkway, the only completed side of a proposed cloistral range, and in 1890 a cemetery was consecrated in the land to the south. Between 1926-9 a new church, designed by George Bernard Cox of Harrison and Cox, Birmingham was built to the west of the friary, and linked by the covered walkway. In 1981 the Capuchin Friars left the site and the church and former seminary were taken over by the Society of the Sacred Heart of Betharram. The seminary building became accommodation for the incumbent and retired priests; the former first-floor chapel became a library and the former rectory below became a chapel. The overall plan of the building has been largely unaltered; the most notable exception is the ground-floor kitchen and service range in the north wing. The attached western linking range was expanded in the late-C20 to provide a community hall and day school.

Details

Former Birmingham Diocesan theological college, built in 1873, founded by Bishop Ullathorne, designed by Edward Joseph Hansom (1842-1900) of Dunn and Hansom. In 1889 the seminary was closed and taken over by the Capuchin Friars. Since 1981 the site has been occupied by the Society of the Sacred Heart of Betharram.

PLAN: an L-shaped building, consisting of a north and east wing; attached to west is a former enclosed walkway that links the former seminary to the attached church.

MATERIALS: Flemish-bond red brick with blue-brick and ashlar-stone detailing, all under a slate roof with decorative brick chimney stacks.

EXTERIOR: a two-storey building with an attic storey. There is stone ashlar detailing around the windows, and stone drip moulds, bands of blue brick and a brick stepped dentil course running around the whole building. The south (garden) elevation of the east wing has seven bays. At the west end is a projecting gable-end bay (containing the former chapel and refectory). The gable incorporates a two-storey box-bay window with five-light window within a recessed pointed arch on the ground floor, topped by a stone drip mould with a carved ecclesiastical shield. On the first floor is an ashlar mullioned window with quatrefoil decoration and topped by a balustrade. Above the box bay is a pair of louvered openings and foliate-carved roundel. To the right of this bay is a stair turret with tracery windows and conical roof. The rest of the wing beyond is five bays divided by stepped buttresses. Each bay includes a ground floor two–light pointed-arched opening containing two sashes, a square-headed two-light first-floor window and a pointed dormer with barge-board decoration at attic level. The east elevation is relatively plain, with a column of central windows and a side entrance. The keyed bricks in this elevation are evidence of the proposed central tower and second wing design that was to extend towards the east. The north elevation is of five bays and mirrors the garden elevation, with the exception of the ground-floor which has two-light trefoil-headed windows. The mansard roof over this wing has a central and gable-end stack.

At the apex of the north and west wing is a corner entrance; a pointed-arch door with stone hoodmould supported by corbels decorated with 'WBU', the founder’s initials. The north wing has seven bays on the east elevation. The first five are separated by brick buttresses; each consists of a ground-floor single-light, trefoil-headed diamond-pane window, a single-light four-pane first-floor sash and a small dormer window at attic level. The pitched roof over these bays includes three large brick ridge stacks with decorative hexagonal pots. The sixth bay projects forward of the elevation and contains the service staircase, lit by single-light windows. The seventh bay consists of square-headed openings. On the west elevation there have been two single-storey C20 extensions on the ground floor. The first-floor windows are paired sashes and above are brick dormers in the attic. The brick work on north end bay of this elevation shows evidence of the intended cloistral range.

The only side of the proposed cloister to be built was the flat-roof, single-storey southern walkway. The original south elevation faces onto the garden, with a central entrance flanked by squared-head windows with stone mullions. The north elevation that faces into the car park is the result of the C20 widening of this space.

INTERIOR: the main stairwell is located at the apex of the south and east wing; it is a dog-leg staircase with carved balusters and reeded square-newel posts with moulded detailing. The ground-floor corridors are interrupted by pointed arches with varying degrees of moulded detailing and the tile floor has a geometric pattern. The east wing has the former seminary common rooms, most of which contain a pointed-arch stone fireplace with foliate carvings in the spandrels, as well as carved-wooden ceiling beams. Adjacent to the main stairs on this level is the former refectory (now a day chapel) with decorative-timber ceiling beams on moulded stone corbels, wooden shutters, timber wainscoting, and an alcove at the south end. The north wing contains the original kitchen and service room; these rooms have undergone the greatest level of alteration, including the rebuilding of part of original kitchen fireplace. One of the rooms has also been altered with the creation of a new reception entrance on the west side, facing towards the adjacent car park. Also located within this wing is an open-well service staircase with chamfered-detailing. The former seminary chapel (now a library) is on the first floor above the former refectory and adjacent to the main stairs. The door to this room has an elaborately carved entablature. Within is a coved-coffered ceiling with chamfer details, other moulded timber decoration, an alcove with decorative pilasters at the south end and later book shelves around the walls. The rest of the first and second floors contain two levels of bedrooms. Some of the first-floor rooms in the north wing have been combined to form a modern dining room and kitchen. The second-floor rooms are within the building's attic level and are heated by large exposed cast-iron pipes. Many of the original timber panel doors survive on all floors. There are also several surviving fireplaces; others have been blocked.

The interior of the corridor that links the friary to the adjacent Church of the Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate has been heavily altered in the late-C20 when it was extended to the north and is not of special interest*.

* Pursuant to s.1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the interior of the hall corridor that links the church to Olton Friary is not of special architectural or historic interest.

Sources

Books and journals
Scarisbrick, J J, History of the Diocese of Birmingham, 1850-2000, (2008), 21, 150
McInnally, Mary, Edward Ilsley: Archbishop of Birmingham, (2002)

Other
The Architectural History Practice Ltd: Churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham - An Architectural and Historical Review, prepared for English Heritage and the Archdiocese of Birmingham (2015)

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