| Admin_History | St. Joseph’s College was opened in 1924 at Mark Cross, East Sussex as a junior seminary for Catholic boys wishing to become priests. Juniors had previously been taught at St. John’s Seminary in Wonersh, Surrey, but St. John’s had become too small to accommodate both junior and senior students, and so new premises were sought. The property chosen near Tunbridge Wells had originally been an orphanage funded by Louisa Duchess of Leeds. The main building was designed by E W Pugin and completed in 1868. The chapel was designed by George Goldie was added in 1872. The minimum age for students to enter Mark Cross was 14, and if they stayed the course, they remained for 6 years before progressing to a senior house to continue their priestly formation. In the 1960s numbers entering the college fell and an HMI inspection found that the curriculum was too narrow for Mark Cross to be recognised as an ‘efficient’ educational establishment. As a result, the College was closed in 1970.
|