Xaverian College

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Xaverian College is a Catholic sixth form college in the English city of Manchester. It lies in the inner city suburb of Rusholme close to Wilmslow Road The College's location means that its intake is extremely diverse with many students coming from ethnic minorities as well as from various socio-economic classes. As well as running conventional AS-Level and A-Level courses, The College also provides facilities for the resitting of core GCSE subjects and various vocational courses.

The College was attended by the author Anthony Burgess, the musician Mark Collins of The Charlatans, Gary Mounfield of The Stone Roses, the artist Chris Ofili, the actor Bernard Hill and the footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips.

[edit] History

The College was founded by the Xaverian Brothers in 1872 on open parklands. It was originally comprised of just a single building known as Firwood but over time through new building projects and acquisition, the Campus has grown. For this reason, buildings date from 1840 onwards.

Firwood was home to the brothers up until 1993 when the last of them left. It has been rumoured that the first Irish Prime Minister, Eamon de Valera, was hidden within the building while fleeing the British authorities.

One of the buildings, Marylands, was originally occupied by the famous chemistry professor Henry Enfield Roscoe and because of him, contains one of a very small number of Wedgwood toilets still in existence. Other signs of his residency include a set of antique Germanic door handles provided to him by Robert Bunsen. Marylands is a Grade 2 listed building.

Another former house which has now become part of the college, Ward Hall, was used as a camp for deserting American servicemen during the Second World War.

The College operated as Catholic grammar school for boys until 1977 when it became a mixed sixth-form college. This allowed a significant expansion.

More recently, additions and renovations have been on going. The Ryken Centre and Mayfield buildings have been added within the last decade and provide students with high-tech information technology equipment.