History
The school was originally opened in the 1920's as St Michael's Orphanage for girls. However it then became St Josephs College in the late 20's through to 1970 when it was converted into a ballet school. In 1987 a storm damaged the buildings and the roof of the bell tower collapsed. The school could not afford the repair bill and were forced to close in 1990 and move sites.
The school then opened as an Islamic school which according to the office for standards in education 'does not provide a satisfactory education for its pupils'. According to BBC News the school educated students to become Islamic leaders, training them to a high level to teach in mosques. There were many allegations that the school was used in the training and recruitment of terrorists.
On the 1st of September 2006, the site was searched by up to one hundred police officers. At this point no arrests were made however the local police cordoned off the site for 24 days whilst they underwent an operation that cost them around one million pounds. Eventually, 14 arrests were made on the suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism act, however 2 were released.
February 9th, 2007, the Department for Education closed the school down and is, or should be abandoned to this day. However activities still occur on the site.
The Visit
We visited the site briefly in late December 2016 early January 2017. Upon approaching the main gate we noticed car lights on the driveway. We decided it was best to pretend to pass by but quickly after the car left we jumped in the bushes and made our way to the church. The doors were open so we peeked inside. However after coming unprepared it had gotten dark and we could no longer see. Therefore, we made our way back home.
On our second visit we began walking up the main driveway where we were met by a small wall of tires.
After easily climbing over this obstacle we noticed a public footpath to our right. We continued down it leading to a large field area which was once used by the children at the school.
Here is an external shot of the school we got from this field.
These small campfires would have been used by the school.
After getting a couple more photos in the field we decided to go round the back and explore the church and caravan. Here are a couple photos from the exterior and interior of the caravan.
After exploring the caravan we continued to the church.
However unlike our first visit the front doors were barricaded up and we couldn't get in. Now we thought it was over we should go home but as we walked round the corner we noticed one of the window barricades had been either left open or someone had broken through it. Therefore we helped each-other up into the church.
Here's the window we climbed through.
When we got inside we became suddenly cautious of the noise emanating from inside. Until, we realised that this shuffling and strange voice like noises were the pigeons in the rafters. The entire floor was covered in their feces. This made the place smell pretty bad.
Here are some pictures from within.
Eerily new fire extinguisher
Not sure what these holes are and why they are there but they look too close to gun shots. Any ideas?
An old school locker with a cool street fighter sticker
After walking around and taking lots of pictures we noticed this little guy.
After jumping swiftly out the window we walked round the side of an old house. After finding a very open window we jumped through.
Hope you liked the pictures comment ur thoughts
- Kerrarik
The school was originally opened in the 1920's as St Michael's Orphanage for girls. However it then became St Josephs College in the late 20's through to 1970 when it was converted into a ballet school. In 1987 a storm damaged the buildings and the roof of the bell tower collapsed. The school could not afford the repair bill and were forced to close in 1990 and move sites.
The school then opened as an Islamic school which according to the office for standards in education 'does not provide a satisfactory education for its pupils'. According to BBC News the school educated students to become Islamic leaders, training them to a high level to teach in mosques. There were many allegations that the school was used in the training and recruitment of terrorists.
On the 1st of September 2006, the site was searched by up to one hundred police officers. At this point no arrests were made however the local police cordoned off the site for 24 days whilst they underwent an operation that cost them around one million pounds. Eventually, 14 arrests were made on the suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism act, however 2 were released.
February 9th, 2007, the Department for Education closed the school down and is, or should be abandoned to this day. However activities still occur on the site.
The Visit
We visited the site briefly in late December 2016 early January 2017. Upon approaching the main gate we noticed car lights on the driveway. We decided it was best to pretend to pass by but quickly after the car left we jumped in the bushes and made our way to the church. The doors were open so we peeked inside. However after coming unprepared it had gotten dark and we could no longer see. Therefore, we made our way back home.
On our second visit we began walking up the main driveway where we were met by a small wall of tires.
After easily climbing over this obstacle we noticed a public footpath to our right. We continued down it leading to a large field area which was once used by the children at the school.
Here is an external shot of the school we got from this field.
These small campfires would have been used by the school.
After getting a couple more photos in the field we decided to go round the back and explore the church and caravan. Here are a couple photos from the exterior and interior of the caravan.
After exploring the caravan we continued to the church.
However unlike our first visit the front doors were barricaded up and we couldn't get in. Now we thought it was over we should go home but as we walked round the corner we noticed one of the window barricades had been either left open or someone had broken through it. Therefore we helped each-other up into the church.
Here's the window we climbed through.
When we got inside we became suddenly cautious of the noise emanating from inside. Until, we realised that this shuffling and strange voice like noises were the pigeons in the rafters. The entire floor was covered in their feces. This made the place smell pretty bad.
Here are some pictures from within.
Eerily new fire extinguisher
Not sure what these holes are and why they are there but they look too close to gun shots. Any ideas?
An old school locker with a cool street fighter sticker
After walking around and taking lots of pictures we noticed this little guy.
After jumping swiftly out the window we walked round the side of an old house. After finding a very open window we jumped through.
Hope you liked the pictures comment ur thoughts
- Kerrarik
