Cotton College, North Staffordshire

Cotton College was a Roman Catholic boarding school in North Staffordshire, England, also known as Saint Wilfred's College. It closed in the 1980's and the site is now derelict. Redevelopment is due to start this year, its possible that work has already begun?

Aerial shot.

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=53.015457~-1.902412&style=h&lvl=17

Wikipedia short history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_College



Developers website.
http://www.amosdevelopments.co.uk/developments/cotton-college/cotton-college.htm

Probably very secure, sadly this isn't in my part of the world, if it was I'd
definitely go and have a look.

B

We went in March, it had been snowing so getting in without leaving footprints was entertaining. It had been completely stripped out and they had built dividing walls which stretched from the ground floor to the roof so each time we accessed one part we couldn't move to another without coming outside again. Security were wandering around with a dog, just a pet by the looks of it, and they nearly caught me climbing in through a window when I knocked a piece of glass out and it landed on my feet without making a noise.

I wish we'd known about it sooner it would have been a great place to explore then.

We found this nice little doorway, one of the few features of any interest left.






You can see one of the dividing walls in this shot, they put huge girders accross the outer walls to build it on.

Thanks for the info and the pics John, wow that looks very
cool. Even though its obviously been stripped out I still
would love to go and have a look, don't suppose you know
when redevelopment is due to start do you?

Nice pics, any chance of a few more exterior snaps please?


Bishop

There were a lot of building materials on site at the time but the only construction work I remember seeing were the dividing walls. I expect development is well underway now.

We didn't like to hang around outside because we had seen security were on site and seen the dog's footprints in the snow so I didn't get as many pictures of the outside as I should have done. Most were from outside the fence.

I've increased the size of the outside shot in my first post, I don't think we got into the very old part which is on the right of that picture. It looks like the windows are open but they were boarded and painted black.

The shot below shows a later part which was either burnt or in the process of being demolished, I couldn't make my mind up at the time.

Thanks for the info and pics thats very kind of you, I think
I'll try and get up there and have a look myself, its a shame
that redevelopment has started. Hopefully I'll have a look
for myself next week?

I'll be interested to know what it's like now.
As you say, it's a shame we didn't find this place sooner, looking at the old pictures of the inside it must have been a stunning place.

Hi, I'm new to the forum but thought it a good time to post my first message as I don't live far from cotton college. Just thought I'd let people know that the college is currently home to three very big doggies...and not the kind you'd want to pet!

Is the renovation still going on? I had a look round last year and it was gutted, no floors or rooves on most of the place.

Visited this site a few months ago.
Having driven past a few times in the car and speaking to a friend of mine in the building trade it seems that development has been put on hold.
The buildings are in a pretty bad state and the site is very overgrown.
we had a quick wander around but got spooked and left after we turned a corner between a couple of buildings and spotted two cars parked near the house at the rear of the site.
im hoping to give it another go when the weather gets a bit better.
A good layout of the site can be seen on "flashearth.com"

Id be carefull the tits who live next door guard it with their lives and have threatened to set the dobermans on people in the past for just even being near it.

Think i'll give it a swerve then.I've got a couple of other local places in mind anyway.

havoc said:

Id be carefull the tits who live next door guard it with their lives and have threatened to set the dobermans on people in the past for just even being near it.

Click to expand...

The woman in question is called Jay Kershaw who has been living in the headmasters house since 2005. She was extremely abusive to us and threatened to set her two doberman dogs on us for trespassing!

I read up on some acts not so long ago, and it stated something like in the circumstance above, if the dogs attacked you, they are breaking the law for the dangerous dogs act, i maybe wrong but im pretty sure that by law they are not allowed to let the dogs loose if they know they are likely to attack or something like that

haribohoe said:

I read up on some acts not so long ago, and it stated something like in the circumstance above, if the dogs attacked you, they are breaking the law for the dangerous dogs act, i maybe wrong but im pretty sure that by law they are not allowed to let the dogs loose if they know they are likely to attack or something like that

Click to expand...

Deliberately settings dogs on someone with the intent to harm them comes under assault/abh/gbh laws. Whatever the circumstances.

Even security dogs are not allowed to attack you unless it's in defence of their handler.

Krela is right its a criminal offence to set any dog on someone.

The problem with Jay Kershaw is she is completely Psychotic and wouldnt think twice of doing it, you would of thought we had broke into her house and pissed on her bed the way she went on at me and Jaff.

krela said:

Even security dogs are not allowed to attack you unless it's in defence of their handler.

Click to expand...

Absolutely. And even then it can be questionable. Proportionality is everything.

If the dog attacked and drew blood, then the owner would be in serious danger of being charged with GBH under S.20 (max sentence: life) or S.18 (5 yrs) of the Offences Against the Person Act (depending on whether malicious intent could be proved).

If the dog did not attack, but the victim was put in really serious fear that they were about to be attacked (immediacy is key here), then the owner would still be looking at a charge of ABH under S.47 (5 yrs).

Unfortunately in these circumstances, the dogs would be destroyed. Which is a shame, because it's usually not the dog's fault. I'd much rather see the owner destroyed. Or at least neutered.

Sounds like this lady could do with a visit from the police.

even though this woman sounds pretty crazy im sure she wouldn't be out of bed at 5am so as soon as the mornings get a bit brighter im gona take another look ( and take plenty of doggie treats with me)
Ive emailed the owners of this site (AMOS group) about being escorted around to take photos for the purpose of documenting the history of the place but had no response at all,this was months ago.

mingerocket said:

Ive emailed the owners of this site (AMOS group) about being escorted around to take photos for the purpose of documenting the history of the place but had no response at all,this was months ago.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's the standard response when you ask for permission to look around most places. That's why we generally don't bother...

krela said:

Yeah that's the standard response when you ask for permission to look around most places. That's why we generally don't bother...

Click to expand...

lol i do love the comments that you come out with K... just thinking when you say that to a copper/land owner... there faces would be priceless!

Timmy said:

lol i do love the comments that you come out with K... just thinking when you say that to a copper/land owner... there faces would be priceless!

Click to expand...

You generally cant recover from a Krela reply!