We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
Prior Park, the stately home on the outskirts of Bath, was built for Ralph Allen, a famous citizen of that city, during the years 1735–1742. In 1830, when the estate had passed through many hands, and was in a very neglected state, it was bought by the Vicar-Apostolic of the Western District, Bishop Peter Baines, for £22,000. It was the bishop's intention to establish there a seminary, a boarding school and eventually, a Catholic University which would vie with Oxford and Cambridge. But things had gone sadly wrong. When Baines died in July, 1843, the establishment was in debt to the extent of some £40,000, with less than half the places in the school and the seminary occupied.
1 Brindle to Baggs, 10 January, 1844. Doc. 252, Correspondence Volume, 1815–1862, C.D.A. In Shepherd, Rev. J. Reminiscences of Prior Park College (Bath, 1894)Google Scholar the author wrote ‘it was in the refectory of St. Paul's about 1845 that Dr. Parfitt, elbowing me, informed me that he had that morning induced Miss Bettington to give Bishop Baggs £2,000 for a new church.’ The half-completed building was abandoned in 1845 because of lack of funds. It so remained until 1882, when Bishop Clifford had it completed to mark the Silver Jubilee of his appointment as bishop of Clifton.
2 Burgess to Brindle, 13 February, 1844. Doc. 265, ibidem. Fr. Burgess, the former Prior of Ampleforth, had left the Benedictines in 1830 to become a secular priest and to assist Bishop Baines at Prior Park. After a short rime, he became convinced that the bishop was borrowing money to spend on the college without having any idea how it would ever be repaid. Burgess left Prior Park in January 1831 and worked as a missioner in the Western District and later in the Welsh District until he was appointed bishop of Clifton in June 1851.
3 Ullathorne, Rev. W.B.: From Cabin-boy to Archbishop, ed. Leslie, S., 1941.Google Scholar Part of the original manuscript of the work is preserved in the C.D.A.
4 The Mansion was the original building and the central feature of Prior Park. The school, St. Peter's, and the seminary, St. Paul's, were in new buildings which Bishop Baines had erected on either side of the Mansion.
5 In 1840, Bishop Baines had transferred the title of the Prior Park estate to three trustees, Monsignor Brindle, Monsignor Baines (the Bishop's nephew) and Fr. Thomas Shattock.
6 Ullathorne to Brindle, 22 September, 1846. Doc. 520, Correspondence Volume, 1835–1849. C.D.A.
7 From Cabin-boy to Archbishop, supra, p. 13.
8 Brindle to Acton, 28 January, 1847. R.L., C.D.A.
9 A catalogue in the C.D.A. lists the items that were sold in Bath by public auction on 15 June, 1847. Several items of building material were included which Bishop Baines had bought for the restoration of the Mansion after the disastrous fire of 1836, but which, because of the cost of the work, had not been used.
10 Rooker to Burgess, 15 May, 1847. R.L., C.D.A.
11 Ibidem, 1 April, 1848.
12 Subsequent correspondence shows that this visit to Rome was mainly involved with the discussionson the restoration of the hierarchy.
13 Rooker to Burgess, 14 June, 1848. R.L., C.D.A.
14 It had been hoped that Bishop Hendren would have been consecrated in the new church at Clifton, but it was not ready in time and the ceremony was transferred to the church of St. Mary-on-the-Quay in Bristol on 10 September, 1848. The Church of the Twelve Apostles at Clifton, soon to become the Pro-Cathedral, was opened on 21 September, 1848.
15 Brown to Burgess, 6 August, 1848. R.L., C.D.A.
16 Burgess to Rooker, 8 August, 1848. Doc. 298, Correspondence Volume 1815–1862, C.D.A.
17 Brown to Burgess, 13 October, 1848. R.L., C.D.A.
18 When Bishop Ullathorne wrote to Fr. Shattock to ask exactly how much money Prior Park owed Monsignor Brindle, the bishop was told that a document dated 11 October, 1845, signed by Bishop Baggs and Fr. Shattock, and witnessed by Fr. John Bonomi and Edward King, the college solicitor, showed that the sum of £8,400 was due to Monsignor Brindle from Prior Park. (Doc. 175, dated 11 October, 1845, Correspondence Volume 1788–1874, C.D.A.) Bishop Baggs had died a week later, on 18 October, 1845.
19 Ullathorne to Briggs, 10 October, 1848. R.L., C.D.A. Bishop Ullathorne was over-optimistic regarding the safety of the annuities. When the college was sold to Alexander Raphael in 1850, the Hon. Henrietta Crewe, who had loaned Bishop Baines £20,000, received £6,270 in repayment and £87 in respect of arrears of interest, which actually amounted to several hundred pounds. (Brindle to Rooker, Doc. 328, undated, Correspondence Volume, 1815–1862, C.D.A. and Prior Park File 50, C.D.A.)
20 Burgess to Rooker, 14 October, 1848. R.L., CD.A.
21 Ullathorne to Briggs, 10 October, 1848. Ibidem.
22 Brown to Rooker, 9 December, 1848. Ibidem.
23 From the copy of the printed letter dated 14 December, 1848. Preserved in the CD.A.
24 Brown to Rooker, 7 January, 1849. R.L., C.D.A.
25 Burgess to Rooker, 9 January, 1849. Ibidem.
26 Hendren to Brown, 6 February, 1849. Ibidem.
27 Brown to Rooker, 11 February, 1849. Ibidem. By a Royal Warrant of 15 September, 1840, Prior Park had been authorised to ‘issue certificates to the candidates for degrees in the University of London.’
28 Burgess to Rooker, 16 February, 1849. Ibidem.
29 Brown to Rooker, 31 March, 1849. Ibidem.
30 Brown to Rooker, 3 May, 1849. Ibidem.
31 When Bishop Baines's living quarters were destroyed in the fire of 1836, Miss Crewe vacated The Priory so that the bishop could live there.
32 Crewe to Brown, 16 May, 1849. Ibidem.
33 Brown to Rooker, 18 May, 1849. Ibidem.
34 Of her original investment of £20,000, Miss Crewe eventually received £6,270 and £87 arrears of interest. See n. 19.
35 Brown to Rooker, 31 May, 1849. R.L., C.D.A.
36 Rooker to Burgess, 21 June, 1849. Ibidem.
37 Doc. 599, dated 22 June, 1849. Correspondence Volume 1838–1849, C.D.A.
38 Brown to Rooker, 29 June, 1849. R.L., C.D.A.
39 Hendren to Rooker, 3 July, 1849. Ibidem.
40 Hendren to Rooker, 16 July, 1849. Correspondence Volume 1815–1862. Doc. 319. C.D.A.
41 King to Burgess, 3 September, 1849. R.L., C.D.A.
42 Burgess to Rooker, 12 September, 1849. Ibidem.
43 Brown to Rooker, 16 October, 1849. Ibidem.
44 Raphael to Rooker, 13 October, 1849. Ibidem. The date of this letter suggests that Rooker had communicated with Alexander Raphael before accepting the post of president.
45 Rooker to Burgess, 24 November, 1849. Ibidem.
46 Brown to Rooker, 16 March, 1850. Ibidem.
47 Burgess to Rooker, 18 March, 1850. Ibidem.
48 Burgess to Rooker, 24 July, 1850. Ibidem.
49 Hendren to Rooker, 31 October, 1850. Ibidem.
50 Burgess to Rooker, 21 November, 1850. Ibidem.
51 Burgess to Rooker, 4 December, 1850. Ibidem.
52 Burgess to Rooker, 3 January, 1851. Ibidem. Although Alexander Raphael's nephew eventually gave Cardinal Wiseman £5,000 for Catholic charities, there is no evidence that any of this money went to Prior Park.
53 Wiseman to Brown and Hendren, 16 January, 1850. R.L., C.D.A.
54 Brindle to Rooker, Undated. Doc. 323, Correspondence Volume 1815–1863, C.D.A.
55 Brown to Rooker, 9 September, 1850. R.L., C.D.A.
56 French-Duff to Palmer, 23 December, 1850. Ibidem.
57 Brindle to Rooker, 28 January, 1851. Doc. 334, Correspondence Volume 1815–1862, C.D.A.
58 From a copy of the letter to the Catholic Press, dated August, 1850, R.L., C.D.A. See McClelland, V. A., English Roman Catholics and Higher Education, 1830–1903 (Oxford, 1973), p. 16 Google Scholar et passim.
59 Brown to Rooker, 4 September, 1850. Ibidem.
60 Burgess to Rooker, 20 September, 1850. Ibidem.
61 Brown to Rooker, 23 September, 1850. Ibidem.
62 Bishop Hendren had been consecrated on 10 September, 1848, and was Vicar-Apostolic of the Western District. (See n. 14.)
62a William Bernard Collier, 1803–1890, a former prior of St. Edmund's, Douai, was bishop of Port Louis in Mauritius. He was to resign in 1863 and reside in Coventry.
63 Burgess to Rooker, 3 January, 1851. Ibidem.
64 Burgess to Rooker, 18 January, 1851. Ibidem.
65 Burgess to Rooker, 11 February, 1851. Ibidem.
66 The Act, forbidding the assumption by Roman Catholics of territorial titles within the United Kingdom, was passed by Lord John Russell in 1851. It was seen as a counter-measure to the restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in October, 1850. The Act was not repealed (by Gladstone's government) until 1871.
67 Burgess to Rooker, 28 July, 1851. Ibidem.
68 Wiseman to Burgess, 13 August, 1851. Ibidem.
69 Burgess to Rooker, 19 November, 1851. Ibidem.
70 Wiseman to Rooker, 27 November, 1851. Ibidem.
71 Rooker to Wiseman, 28 November, 1851. Ibidem.
72 Ryley to Burgess, 13 February, 1852. Ibidem.
73 Wiseman to Rooker, 20 April, 1852. Ibidem.
74 Rooker to Wiseman, 25 April, 1852. Ibidem.
75 Burgess to Wiseman, 27 June, 1852. Ibidem.
76 It is difficult to understand why the Cardinal made this suggestion. He must have known that the whole estate was owned by the Raphael family to whom the college paid rent.
77 Wiseman to Burgess, 29 June, 1852. Ibidem.
78 Burgess to Rooker, 29 June, 1852. Ibidem.
79 Brown (Shrewsbury) to Rooker, 17 August, 1852. Ibidem.
80 Errington to Rooker, 21 May, 1854. Ibidem.
81 Brown (Newport) to Burgess, 14 June, 1854. Ibidem.
82 Burgess to Brown (Newport), 22 June, 1854. Ibidem.
83 Raphael to Brindle, 14 September, 1854. Correspondence Volume 1788–1874. C.D.A.
84 When the Clifton Pro-Cathedral ceased to be used in 1973, the remains of those buried in the crypt were exhumed and re-interred in the vault of the Catholic Chapel at Arno's Vale Cemetery in Bristol. The names of the 144 persons originally buried in the crypt of the Pro-Cathedral are recorded on a tablet on the wall of the Chapel.
85 The Catholic Ordo. and Directory for 1860 pp. 258–261.
86 Again the Cardinal's meaning is not clear. He must have known that the trustees had already sold the estate to the Raphael family. See n. 76.
87 Wiseman to Brindle, 2 June, 1855. Doc. 275. Correspondence Volume 1788–1874. C.D.A.
88 Brindle to Rooker, 10 July, 1855. Doc. 362, Correspondence Volume, 1815–1862. C.D.A. The letter suggests that Wiseman already knew that a Bishop of Clifton would not be appointed until the problem of Prior Park was settled although the Decree of the Sacred College was not issued until 22 September, 1855.
89 Errington to Brindle, 6 October, 1855. R.L., C.D.A.
90 Fraser to Brindle, 12 November, 1855. Doc. 336, Correspondence Volume 1815–1862. C.D.A.
91 Brindle to Fraser, 16 November, 1855. Doc. 367. Ibidem.
92 Raphael to Brindle, 11 December, 1855, Doc. 359. Ibidem.
93 There is a copy of the sale catalogue in the C.D.A. in which is recorded the price paid for each itemsold.
94 Quoted in Roche, Rev. J.S.: A History of Prior Park College and its Founder, Bishop Baines. (London, 1931) p. 239.Google Scholar
95 Work on the new chapel had ceased in 1845 because of lack of money.
96 In 1908, Bishop Baines's remains were interred in a magnificent Gothic tomb next to that of his predecessor, Bishop Collingridge, in the new Downside Abbey. There is a letter in the C.D.A. which the then Abbot of Downside, Abbot Kindersiey, wrote to the bishop of Clifton, Bishop Burton. In his letter, the Abbot described that when the Bishop's body was exhumed, no trace could be found of the Bishop's ring or his pectoral cross which had originally been buried with him. (Kindersiey to Burton, 22 August, 1909. Bishop Baines Files, 19, C.D.A.) Baines had once described Pugin as ‘that Gothic Maniac’ We can only guess what the bishop would have thought of the magnificent tomb which his brethren provided for him. When the Midford Mission was closed in 1901 the remains of Bishop Baggs and of the others buried in the chapel vault were transferred to the vault of the Catholic chapel at Arno's Vale cemetery, Bristol.
97 Prior Park remained empty for twelve years after the sale. It was re-purchased for the diocese by Bishop William Clifford in 1868.
