Convent for the Community
The SAVE THE CONVENT pressure group who want the St Leonards site turned into a Community Village give voice to their vision
The site of the former Convent of the Holy Child is a large area of land with commanding sea views on the boundary of St Leonards and Hastings. It contains heritage buildings and a Neo-Gothic grade 2* listed chapel with surrounding gardens and sandstone boundary wall and numerous outbuildings. The problem is that the school and associated buildings are now empty and falling into disrepair and are being actively vandalised. The ‘jewel in the crown’, the chapel built in 1868 by Edward Pugin, son of Augustus Pugin is now on the ‘Heritage at Risk’ list.
At ‘Save the Convent’ we are campaigning to see the whole site come into community ownership, serving the most needy in our local area. Bear in mind that the Convent sits in the middle of one of the most deprived wards in Sussex. Most of the properties facing the Convent are rented, multi-occupation homes, and most people do not have access to gardens.
Alternative Housing
We want to restore all the buildings and convert the interiors into a Community Village, comprising affordable (yes, really affordable!) rented accommodation, for use by an alms charity and housing co-ops, providing accommodation for over-55s and assisted living spaces for the neuro divergent and people with autism. We propose an innovative ‘Umbrella’ Scheme which would mean being able to offer alternative housing to the Council, in special circumstances. We aim to devote a small part of the site to a museum and library about the Convent’s history, a community cafe and we want vegetables grown in our gardens along with a community multi-use space with public access to the chapel. We must see the chapel restored, and would like it to be used as a community arts space, something which had been happening with the previous owner.
Outside, we would like to create a community garden space and walk with a nature trail, on the plateau of the North Field, perhaps with a living agricultural museum for the Convent dwellers and locals alike, so the Convent becomes integrated with the rest of the local area.
We envisage workshop spaces for small businesses, with a real emphasis on building renovation, and other skills for young people, so they become able to restore their own homes in the future, joining with local building colleges and youth groups to maximise the number of helpers we can get. We envisage the same process with the grounds, using local trainees under the supervision of experienced gardeners.
This may sound excessively aspirational, but just look at what is there currently, and consider what we will have lost if – as seems increasingly likely – it all disappears to be replaced with a bland ‘market’ – i.e. unaffordable – housing development.
This would mean that other amazing features would vanish, including an outdoor pool, a nun’s graveyard and a football pitch and playing field that have been there for decades. Indeed most of the convent has been in place since halfway through the nineteenth century. The Priory, or Presbytery, was built in 1858 by William Wilkinson Wardel. Parts of the Convent were built in 1840, also designed by William Wardell then later added to. This larger addition known as the Training College was built later in the early 1900s. The older buildings are Grade 2 listed. The site is – theoretically – protected under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and is on the National Heritage List for England. It sits within the Magdalen Road Conservation Area no 11 of which the Convent makes up around. 50%.
A Brief History:
In 1848, Cornelia Connelly came to St Leonards to set up The Convent of the Holy Child Jesus on this site. By 1850 she had set up a ‘Poor School’ for girls and a ‘Training School’. It was an extraordinary place, way ahead of its time, an encouraging and nurturing environment. Cornelia dressed the girls in red because she liked bright colours, and believed firmly in using art and music as a basis for education . The school changed the lives of many girls; nobody was turned away due to their lack of funds.
In 1979 the school moved to Mayfield and the St Leonards’ site became a Spanish language school, then more recently a football academy.
Remnants of the Past
Inside the convent, there are remnants of its history; a Catholic nuns’ tapestry, prayer books and written records. Some of the schoolrooms are untouched and there is the Chapel, complete with its Gothic Revival interior, alabaster statues and a church organ with original hymn books. There is a nuns’ and children’s graveyard in the North Field, and local knowledge of the site also being used to bury babies. There used to be gardens, orchards, and even a donkey called Jenny who grazed there.
This is a most important piece of heritage in St Leonards and yet it has been hidden away from public view by high walls and private ownership. We think it is time that changed.
The North Field is a sensitive local site because of the graves, but we are very interested in exploring the possibility of some underground parking areas and possibly building below ground. We would like to see the outbuildings and classrooms below the North Field replaced with Eco housing and small units to home people immediately, while restoration work is done.
Beacon of Light
We believe that this could be a beacon of hope in community self-management and would like to work with Hastings Council to bring this to fruition. The local council are very much in accordance with our ideas for the buildings. As a beacon of progressive conservation, we would like to encourage the use of solar and renewable power for the whole site. We already have interest from two major power providers, as the roof space is enormous.
We hope to attract local and national interest, and to this aim we meet weekly, connect with other local groups and run an ever-growing mailing list. We want the Convent to become a useful and beautiful addition to our local landscape and we believe that it should be serving the poor and vulnerable, enriching lives, providing education and sanctuary, just as Cornelia Connelly intended all those years ago.
For more information please visit: facebook.com/p/Save-The-Convent- 61584946118558 or email [email protected]
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