Battenhall Mount (former St Mary’s Convent School), Worcester
An abandoned Roman Catholic school with impressive original Italian style features as well as classrooms.
Visited February 2017 Battenhall Avenue, Worcester, West Midlands, UK Disused, Abandoned
St Mary’s Convent School was originally Battenhall Mount, an impressive house built around 1865-9 for William Spriggs, a Quaker and Worcester Clothier, in the Italianate style popularised by Prince Albert. In the 1890s the house was enlarged in a matching style by the architect John Henry Williams of Worcester for the Hon. Alfred Percy Allsopp. Allsopp was a local brewer who owned the Star Hotel and was Mayor of Worcester in 1892, 1894 and 1905. The original house is now incorporated into the South West corner of the property.
Battenhall Mount, Worcester – The gatehouse on Battenhall Avenue
The building was used as a convalescent home during the First World War. It then became the home of the Sisters of St. Marie Madeleine Postel, a Roman Catholic Teaching Order, in 1933. St. Mary’s was a popular and well-regarded independent nursery and school until its closure in 2014.
Battenhall Mount, Worcester – External of the original Italian styled buildingBattenhall Mount, Worcester – The Italianate style continues insideBattenhall Mount, Worcester – Underneath a column-supported bridge in the Italian styled original buildings
Battenhall Mount – Looking across the bridge
Battenhall Mount – Italian styled hallBattenhall Mount – Grand fireplace
Battenhall Mount, Worcester – Fireplace in the grand music roomBattenhall Mount, Worcester – A stage at the other end of the music roomBattenhall Mount, Worcester – Bay windows and elegant ceilingBattenhall Mount, Worcester – Grand staircase with pictures hanging on the wall
Battenhall Mount, Worcester – Corridor leading to the later classroomsBattenhall Mount, Worcester – More corridorsBattenhall Mount, Worcester – Cloak roomsBattenhall Mount, Worcester – Science lab, just it was the day it closedBattenhall Mount, Worcester – Science lab
Battenhall Mount – Scales in lab
Battenhall Mount – Textiles classroom
Battenhall Mount, Worcester – Arts and Crafts ClassroomBattenhall Mount, Worcester – More modern science classroom
Battenhall Mount – ClassroomBattenhall Mount – Computer room
Battenhall Mount – Food Tech RoomBattenhall Mount – Another lab
Battenhall Mount, Worcester – One of the large, older styled classroomsBattenhall Mount, Worcester – Sinks in a bathroomBattenhall Mount, Worcester – View from stage in the hallBattenhall Mount, Worcester – Trampoline in the school hall
Externals of the main buildings
Battenhall Mount, Worcester – The later school buildings
Battenhall Mount – Original building
Battenhall Mount – Side entrance
Battenhall Mount – Rear elevation of the original building
Nursery
The nursery was in a separate building, set a little away from the main buildings
Battenhall Mount – Open plan foyer of the nurseryBattenhall Mount – Nursery classroomBattenhall Mount – Tin cloakroom in the nurseryBattenhall Mount – High chairs for the really young kids
22 thoughts on Battenhall Mount (former St Mary’s Convent School), Worcester
I live in Worcester and have never actually been inside here, I pass it most days and always admire the building. Super excited when I saw you have been inside, great photos, keep up the good work.
It’s being turned into a retirement village – relatively sympathetically it looks like. (It’s my old school: not seen inside these buildings since the ’80s. Little changed, it seems!)
This was my school in the early 90’s and I loved going here. Sad it closed down but happy it’s being turned into something that could come of good use instead of it staying empty
I really enjoyed seeing these photos. I was a pupil at the school in the ’60s – 70s; I felt like a ghost wandering through those corridors and classrooms again!
What a lovely building I hope who ever develops it does so with great sensitivity or could it be an annexe to nunery wood sixth form and keep it in circulation a lot of what you need already their
So sad to see it abandoned like that. I’m an ex pupil too and glad it’s hopefully going to be sympathetically transformed. So many memories. It hasn’t changed much since I left in the 80s!!
I was at St Mary’s during ther 50s. I wonder if we met. Marian (was DANCE) great friends with Ann Smith (was WILSON) and Judith Pingriff (was KEETLEY). Lovely times and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Sister Celene, Sr Eucharia, St Joseph etc. Oh happy days.
I was a boarder at the age of 6 in the late 1950s. I have many special memories of my time at the school both happy and sad. It was a wonderful place to have as a school and to live in . I think it will make a lovely retirement complex and I am thankful that the building has been saved Irene Mawby (nee Mullett)
Wow very interested to see these pictures of my old school I was there from 4 to 18, in the 60’s. It is so weird to see it again when I was their it was full of nuns. But why was it just abandoned?
Battenhall Avenue, Worcester, West Midlands, UK Disused, Abandoned 
I live in Worcester and have never actually been inside here, I pass it most days and always admire the building. Super excited when I saw you have been inside, great photos, keep up the good work.
I live just around the corner from here and really hope it’s preserved and used. It looks in such good condition.
It’s being turned into a retirement village – relatively sympathetically it looks like. (It’s my old school: not seen inside these buildings since the ’80s. Little changed, it seems!)
Thanks for the update Charlotte. Glad the building is being put to good use.
This was my school in the early 90’s and I loved going here. Sad it closed down but happy it’s being turned into something that could come of good use instead of it staying empty
my school from 1959-62, so sad to see it’s gone, a retirement village would be a perfect use for that beautiful building
I really enjoyed seeing these photos. I was a pupil at the school in the ’60s – 70s; I felt like a ghost wandering through those corridors and classrooms again!
my old school…so beautiful…loved being there
So many memories, wish we could comment on each picture to add more character to this post!
Does anyone know what happened to the old middle/junior school?
I went to the convent in the 50s the nuns taught us and wore the old fashioned wimple very interesting times. Alison Shaw now Grice
I was there in the late 1940’s early 50’s. Such a beautiful place. Jane Parry ( now Hall)
What a lovely building I hope who ever develops it does so with great sensitivity or could it be an annexe to nunery wood sixth form and keep it in circulation a lot of what you need already their
God its like the Marie Celeste!! What a fab building!!
So sad to see it abandoned like that. I’m an ex pupil too and glad it’s hopefully going to be sympathetically transformed. So many memories. It hasn’t changed much since I left in the 80s!!
PC White I remember you so well Patricia (Pat) also Pat Rance and so many more – Jane Rochford 1958 – 1963
I was at St Mary’s during ther 50s. I wonder if we met. Marian (was DANCE) great friends with Ann Smith (was WILSON) and Judith Pingriff (was KEETLEY). Lovely times and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Sister Celene, Sr Eucharia, St Joseph etc. Oh happy days.
Have just looked at the old school lots of memories I was there late 50s early 60s
Gail Kidd (Everton)
I was a boarder at the age of 6 in the late 1950s. I have many special memories of my time at the school both happy and sad. It was a wonderful place to have as a school and to live in . I think it will make a lovely retirement complex and I am thankful that the building has been saved
Irene Mawby (nee Mullett)
Wow very interested to see these pictures of my old school I was there from 4 to 18, in the 60’s. It is so weird to see it again when I was their it was full of nuns. But why was it just abandoned?
I was at the school in the 40s. Left when y family moved away. Was never very happy there.
Some of the details of this building are not italianate at all but almost literal copies of Spanish renaissance buildings. For instance, the columns imitate those of the Casa de Miranda in Burgos (see here: https://www.verpueblos.com/castilla+y+leon/burgos/burgos/foto/1730176/) and the mensulae that are seen throug the column supported bridge are inspired in those at Palacio de Monterrey in Salamanca (see here: https://www.revistaad.es/lugares/articulos/amo-mi-barrio-siete-joyas-calle-san-pablosalamanca/28990)