This was a big tick off the urbex bucket list for me. Been wanting to do this one for about 5 years now…! St Joseph’s Seminary is a derelict, deconsecrated Roman Catholic seminary, a kind of priest’s training school served by monks. It was founded in 1883 and closed in 1992 (iirc) and has been pretty much left since. The site is weird – parts are more derelict than others. Also, fun fact; Johnny Vegas actually attended the seminary…!

The Explore:

First things first was a 10 minute walk through all sorts of bushes and up and down steep hills… on a particularly steep descent, I slipped and almost rolled down the hill into aload of muddy water! But, we soon reached the perimeter fence. About 5 minutes later, we got in and were inside the Seminary. Some teens saw us inside the perimeter and got in themselves… and got caught and dobbed us in to the security on site. If you two are reading this, you are both a pair of bastard snitches. :^)

Anyhow, we explored for about an hour until a small security guard popped out from behind a door and escorted us out. Gave me a heart attack almost. Still, he was a nice bloke and very friendly so thanks to him for being so nice. But, I shall be back to see the chapel and rest of the site sometime…! The bell inside the tower is what I want to see – I’m a church bell ringer and the bell hung in the tower is a Matthew Byrne of Dublin bell, cast in 1897. It weighs 21cwt (hundredweight) which is between 1,050kg and 1,100kg. Pretty damn rare now as most Byrne bells were smashed up and recast into newer bells in the 20th century.

Onto the photos! Some will be out of focus because my lens began malfunctioning that day. I need to get a new one now.