A Grade II listed building on Western College Road has moved from theological training to apartment living, but its Victorian character remains
The Western College was a Congregational theological college, founded in Exeter in 1752 to train men for the ministry among Protestant Dissenters of the Independent and Congregational tradition.
It moved to Plymouth in 1845 and spent fifteen years in Wyndham Square before outgrowing it. A new home was built in what was then a rural corner of Mannamead.
The building on Western College Road was completed in 1861 to designs by architect James Hine. Its Gothic style gave the college a dignified presence. The walls are local Plymouth limestone with Bath stone dressings, under steep slate roofs, and a spire rises above the entrance porch.
Inside, it was designed for residential life. A description published in the 1870s records a spacious hall, lecture rooms, students’ rooms, dormitories, a refectory and a library measuring 40 feet by 18 feet.
Students followed a course lasting five years, and young men of other denominations could attend as lay students.
When Western College opened in 1861, its surroundings would have looked very different from today. The new college stood in what was then a largely rural part of Mannamead, away from the much more heavily built up centre of Plymouth.
Students arriving at the college would have found open land around them rather than the streets and houses which now surround the building. Over the decades Plymouth expanded outwards and Mannamead developed around the college, gradually changing the setting completely.
Today Western College Road is firmly part of the city, but the old college remains a striking reminder of the time when this corner of Plymouth was still on the edge of the countryside.
Number 7 Western College Road is currently on the market, offering the opportunity to own a home within this historic former college. The property is being marketed for sale by Plymouth estate agents Red Homes.
Photographs © Wayne Perry / Plymouth Post