- Target:
- Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
- Region:
- United Kingdom
- Website:
- www.freewebs.com
Since its closure in 1987, the Cotton College site has been allowed to deteriorate. 20 years later, still nothing whatsoever has been done to protect the buildings or to sort the mess out or to develop the site for the benefit of the community at large.
The site has become a target for vandals. This is one of the major cultural and historic Roman Catholic centres of the 19th and 20th Centuries.
In this place, the anthem of Roman Catholic England was composed by Father Faber (Faith of Our Fathers).
The body of Blessed Dominic Barberi was kept at Cotton for six months in 1854 , Saint Charles Houban was Parish Priest 1855-56 , and numerous Priests , Bishops , an Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Birmingham and a Cardinal walked its cloisters as students. St. Wilfrid's , Cotton College was a religious community and as such remains a cemetery , with a number of 'Profs' and Old Boys choosing to be buried within the grounds. The first Scottish Passionist, Fr Austin Edgar, is still buried at Cotton. The site also hosts a War Memorial dedicated to Old Cottonians killed in both World Wars.
To see the place behind wire , crumbling , forsaken , left to rot is hard to swallow. The Local Authority have a duty of care for the historic buildings within their domain as well as a duty to remove ongoing environmental tragedies such as this site has now become.
We, the undersigned, call on the Local Authority and the Archdiocese of Birmingham to consider and act upon the following:
1. Unless work to return Cotton College - St. Wilfrid's to a semblance of decency does not start immediately , the site should be compulsory purchased by the Local Authority.
2. The Local Authority should remove the buildings 'St.Thomas' and 'Faber'. The Local Authority should then sell off the buildings to whoever will put their piece of the property to immediate use.
3. A Police Station should be the first step in returning appropriate security to the site. Other uses of the building could be as Council Offices. Of course, it is possible to use the buildings as homes or offices or businesses or whatever. We believe that this will have a more positive effect on the community and the village than what currently exists.
4. The Archdiocese of Birmingham still retains a duty to the grounds as it is a Roman Catholic Cemetery. The Archdiocese also has a duty to St. Wilfrid's Church , which was built by Pugin. The Cemetery needs maintaining and the graves of former Headmasters by Wilf's also need maintenance.
5. As long as people are happy to do nothing , the whole place just lies there festering. Allowing the situation to continue should no longer be an option.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Save Cotton College petition to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council was written by Peter Glynn and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.