The monastic chancel of St Bees Priory, which was roofed to become the main lecture room of the college (interior shown below)
St Bees Theological College, close to the coast of Cumberland, was the first independent theological college to be established for the training of Church of England ordinands. It was founded in 1816 by George Henry Law, Bishop of Chester, in what was during those years the northern extremity of his diocese. For many subsequent years the vicar of St Bees was effectively both the principal of the college and also its proprietor.
The college drew students both from England and from Wales. It catered particularly for those prospective ordinands for whom the cost of a traditional university degree course would have been prohibitive. They attended lectures and had their library within the rebuilt chancel of St Bees Priory, whilst living in lodgings throughout the parish.[1] Over 2,600 clergy are believed to have trained at the college during the course of its history.
Lacking an adequate corporate administrative and financial basis, and also suffering from a loss of much individual interest from subsequent bishops of Chester and bishops of Carlisle, the theological college finally closed in 1895.[2]
^Nicholas Groves, Theological Colleges: their hoods and histories, published by the Burgon Society, 2004, pages 18-19, ISBN 0954411013
^Trevor Park, St Bees College, 1816–1895, a short history (1982) ISBN 0950832502
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