St Josephs Missionary College, London - February 2013

The St Joseph's Foreign Missionary Society (Mill Hill Missionaries) was founded at Mill Hill in 1866 by Father Herbert Vaughan (1832-1903). It was the first catholic missionary society to be founded in England. The college organised successful missions across much of the world, but eventually numbers began declining in the 1980s. The future of the Mill Hill college was first discussed in 1997, and various plans were drawn up in 2004 to allow the surrounding land to be developed to fund the continuation of the college. These were rejected, opting instead to sell the land and premises. The college officially closed in 2006. It has been used as a filming location for several well known TV shows with the latest being Call The Midwife in 2012.

First off, a massive thanks to bauhausgirl for driving us here (in the process getting a speeding ticket, parking ticket and taking a wrong turn that meant we went via central London), it was most appreciated! Thanks to the guys for coming a long and to GAJ's dog, made for a very enjoyable explore. Lot's of laughs as usual and it was nice to just get out there again after quite a break. This is quite a cool place, despite being done a lot recently. Plenty of long corridors and lots of different rooms, not a lot of contents but there's bits here and there and it's quite an interesting building to say the least. Lovely views from the clock tower and other roofs. Roll on more exploring again soon!