Cotton College was a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

in Cotton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It was also known as ''Saint Wilfrid's College''. The school buildings were centred on Cotton Hall, a country house used by religious communities from the 1840s until the school moved there in 1873. The school closed in 1987 and the site is now derelict. The school and its chapel (St Wilfrid's church) are both Grade II listed buildings.Cotton College, Cotton
from British listed buildings, retrieved 22 December 2014

History of the school

The school was founded in 1763 at

Sedgley Park School, Wolverhampton Sedgley Park School was a Roman Catholic Academy located on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, then part of Staffordshire. The school was founded by William Errington, at the request of Bishop Richard Challoner, on 25 March 1763. History Errington ma ...

– now a hotel. It was founded by

William Errington William Errington (1699 – 5 Mar 1739) was High Sheriff of Northumberland. Errington was the only son of Francis Errington (1665–1699), a papist of the landed gentry branch of Walwick Grange, Northumberland. He married Mrs Isabel Bacon at Hayd ...

at the recommendation of

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Richard Challoner. In 1873 it moved to Cotton Hall. The school closed in 1987 due to

financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

difficulties.

Architecture

Cotton Hall

Original building

Cotton Hall appears to date back to 1630"Cotton College War Memorial", Historic England
/ref> and was most probably built by the Morrice family. Thomas Gilbert rebuilt the house in the eighteenth century. In 1843 Cotton Hall was sold to the Earl of Shrewsbury. The Earl was a prominent Roman Catholic, who lived at

Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often referred to as Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments Group and incorporates a theme park, water park, ...

nearby. He offered the building to a religious community under the leadership of Frederick William Faber.

Extensions

The house was extended in 1846–1848 for use by the religious community, which started a village school and sought to convert locals to Roman Catholicism. The building work was financed by the Earl, who gave the commission to his architect

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

, most famous for his work with

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...

on the Houses of Parliament. After the boarding school moved to Cotton, the building was further extended in 1874-1875, 1886-1887 and 1931-1932.

St Wilfrid's Church

As well as extending the house, Pugin designed a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style linked to the main building by a single-storey passage building. It has a south-west tower with a

broach spire A broach spire is a type of spire (tall pyramidal structure), which usually sits atop a tower or turret of a church. It starts on a square base and is carried up to a tapering octagonal spire by means of triangular faces. File:Leicester Cathedral ...

. St Wilfrid's Church remained intact after the closure of the school, although regular services are no longer held there.History
from CottonCollege.co.uk, retrieved 22 December 2014

Notable alumni

David Cashman David John Cashman (1912–1971) was an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Arundel and Brighton from 1965 to 1971.

(Bishop of Arundel and Brighton) *

Kieran Conry Kieran Thomas Conry (born 1 February 1951) is a Roman Catholic bishop. He was the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton from 2001 until his resignation in 2014. Early life and ordination Conry was born in Coventry and educated at All Souls Roman Ca ...

(Bishop of Arundel and Brighton) *

John Cornwell (writer) John Cornwell FRSL (born 21 May 1940) is a British journalist, author, and academic. Since 1990 he has directed the Science and Human Dimension Project at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he was also, until 2017, Founder and Director of the Rust ...

Billy Kan Billy Albert Kan Che-kin (born 1951/52) is a Hong Kong billionaire who is the chairman and chief executive officer of China LNG Group Limited (formerly Artel Solutions). He was educated at Cotton College and graduated with a BSc in Mathematics fr ...

Hong Kong billionaire *

Camille Solon Camille Antoine Arnoux Solon (1877–1960) was a British muralist and ceramist of French descent. He was born in Staffordshire, England to French parents, and emigrated to the US, where he worked with architect Julia Morgan doing painting and til ...

(artist) *

Thomas Williams (Archbishop of Birmingham) Thomas Cuthbert Leighton Williams (20 March 1877 – 1 April 1946) was an English clergyman who served in the Roman Catholic Church as the Archbishop of Birmingham from 1929 to 1946. He was born in Handsworth, Birmingham on 20 March 1877 to Jam ...

References

External links

Cotton College site
{{Coord, 53, 0, 55, N, 1, 54, 13, W, display=title Defunct universities and colleges in England Defunct Christian universities and colleges Boarding schools in Staffordshire Defunct Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham Educational institutions disestablished in 1987 Educational institutions established in 1763 1763 establishments in England 1987 disestablishments in England Former Catholic seminaries Grade II listed buildings in Staffordshire Defunct boarding schools in England