| Motto | Deo Duce Deo Luce |
|---|---|
| Established | 1830 |
| Type | Independent school Day and boarding school |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Headteacher | James Murphy O'Connor |
| Chair | Sister Jane Livesey CJ, MA |
| Founder | Congregation of Christian Brothers |
| Location | Ralph Allen Drive Bath Somerset BA2 5AH England |
| Students | circa 590 students |
| Gender | mixed |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Colours | Steel Blue and Sky Blue |
| Website | Prior Park College |
Prior Park College is a Roman Catholic co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils. It is situated on a hill overlooking the city of Bath, in Somerset, in south-west England. Prior Park has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.[1] One of the wings of the mansion includes a church, the Chapel of our Lady of the Snows, which was built in 1863 by Scoles and Son and is grade I listed (there is also a chapel in the original house).[2] The adjoining 57-acre (23 ha) Prior Park Landscape Garden, once part of the school site, is now owned by the National Trust.
Contents |
Originally intended to be England's first Catholic university, Prior Park College was founded in 1830, and since then has been a Roman Catholic school. It was established by the Benedictine, Bishop Baines, as a seminary, and continues to provide co-educational schooling for boys and girls aged eleven to eighteen in the Catholic tradition and ecumenical spirit.
In 2008, Prior Park A-level pupils received the best results in the history of the school with over one-fifth of all students getting three A grades and 77% receiving A and B grades at A-level.[3]
James Murphy-O'Connor replaced retiring head teacher Dr. Giles Mercer in July 2009. Mr Murphy-O'Connor is the nephew of former Prior Park pupil Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. Dr. Mercer had been head teacher since 1996 and with his previous position as head of Stonyhurst College, his twenty-four years as a head teacher made him the "longest serving Catholic senior school headmaster in England."[4]
The school is part of the Prior Park Foundation which includes the Paragon School in Bath and Prior Park Preparatory School in Cricklade, Wiltshire.
The Palladian mansion which now houses Prior Park College was originally designed and built chiefly by John Wood, the Elder in 1742. He was commissioned to build on the hill overlooking Bath by Ralph Allen: "To see all Bath, and for all Bath to see"[5]
Bishop Baines purchased the mansion in 1828 for £22,000 and used it as a seminary. Renovations were made according to designs by H. E. Goodridge in 1834. The seminary was closed in 1856 after a fire in 1836 that resulted in extensive damage and renovation and brought about financial insolvency. It was later bought by Bishop Clifford who founded a Roman Catholic Grammar School in the mansion.[6]
The church was designed by J. J. Scoles in 1844 but not completed until 1863, following 18th-century French models such as Chalgrin's St. Philippe-du-Roule in Paris. Pevsner describes it as "without any doubt the most impressive church interior of its date in the county"[7].
The grammar school closed in 1904 and the site was occupied by the army during the First World War and afterwards by a series of tenants until, in 1921, the Christian Brothers took it over and founded a boys' boarding school in 1924. Prior Park College has continued to occupy the house, but, in 1993, 11.3 hectares (28 acres) of the park and pleasure grounds were acquired by the National Trust and have since been the subject of a detailed restoration programme.
Prior Park Landscape Garden, now owned by the National Trust was first started in 1734 to 1744 with the Allens benefiting during the first phase from the advice of their friend Alexander Pope. The Palladian bridge and lake that it spans were added in 1755; the final phase with the green slopes from the house to the lake are thought to have been planned by Capability Brown in the 1760s.[8][9]
The main building (Mansion) has been badly burnt twice. The 1836 fire left visible damage to some stonework.[10] The 1991 fire gutted the interior, except for parts of the basement.[11] Rebuilding took approximately three years. Unusually, the blaze started on the top floor, and spread downwards.
Prior Park uses The Monument Field, a National Trust-owned site[12] named from a triangular Gothic building with a round tower on the top erected by Bishop Warburton. It contained a circular staircase and had a tablet which was inscribed in Latin in honour of Ralph Allen.[13]
Since 2000, refurbishments include the indoor swimming pool,[14] a new Information and communication technologies centre, other classroom extensions, and the new Mackintosh Dance Studio, which opened in September 2006.
Prior Park College has plans to build a new sports hall to expand training capacity and capabilities. Additional sports facilities are located within easy reach at the National Lottery-funded University of Bath Sports Village, which is the training camp of the England rugby union and netball teams, as well as Bath Rugby Club and the Great Britain rugby league team.