OS grid reference TQ2687977689 Country UK Website AllenHall.org.uk Province City of Westminster Heritage designation Listed building | Location Chelsea, London Denomination Roman Catholic Phone +44 20 7349 5600 Founder William Allen | |
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Former name(s) Convent of Adoration Reparatrice Address 28 Beaufort St, Chelsea, London SW3 5AA, UK Deanery Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Similar Imperial College London, The Franciscan Sisters of, Heythrop College, Frangiscan Sisters, Victoria Inn London | ||
Allen Hall is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Province of Westminster in Chelsea, London in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is situated in a house previously occupied by St Thomas More. Remains of the original sixteenth-century house are Grade II listed.
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Early History of the College
The theological college is named after Cardinal William Allen who founded a seminary in Douai, France, in 1568 to provide for the English mission in time of persecution.
In 1793, the professors and students moved from Douai to Ware, Hertfordshire to escape the French revolution and founded St Edmund's College.
History of the Site
The site of the seminary dates back to 1524, when it was purchased by Henry VIII's Chancellor, St Thomas More. Although his house no longer exists, one of the mulberry trees he planted survives in the seminary garden, which is one of the largest gardens in Chelsea.
The current building was a former convent built by French nuns in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Sisters of the Adoration Réparatrice who occupied it until 1975 when it was bought by the Archdiocese of Westminster.
Mission
In 1975 the seminary itself moved its present-day site which allowed St Edmund's to expand as a school and became Allen Hall.
The seminary comes under the authority of the Archbishop of Westminster and although it serves as a seminary for the dioceses within the Province of Westminster, it welcomes seminarians from other dioceses of England and Wales and from abroad.
As well as teaching the philosophy and theology subjects prescribed by the Catholic Church, every student is also required to gain pastoral experiences in parishes, schools and hospitals and, if appropriate, in a more specialized placement such as a hospice or prison. The staff there help the students reflect on their pastoral experiences both individually and with others.