FAMOUS MANSION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 90, 26 January 1928, Page 6

FAMOUS MANSION.

TO BECOME A TRAINING COLLEGE One... of .England's stately homes, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, famous as the former residence of/Horace Walpole, was opened recently by Cardinal Bourne-'as a; Roman Catholic training college for teachers (states the "Daily Chronicle.")' It is to be called St. Mary's College, and will be staffed by 20 priests of the congregation of St. Vincent do Paul. There is accommodation for'2oo men .students,.The. original college'•• was founded by Cardinal Wiseman, I first Bishop of Westminster, at Brook Green, 75 years- ago. "During: recent years-: tlie- demand for admission to the college has far exceeded the accommodation," one of! tlie priests said at the opening. "We purchased Strawberry Hill two years I •ago,- and sold our old college to Messrs j" Lyon and Co., who. wasted more room;for Cadby Hall.". : , Walpofe's mansion has. been left intact, but a new wing containing lecture'' rooms, dormitories and a chapel j has been' added at a-cost of £60,000. "Every effort has-been made to pre--, serve the mansion as a national monu-1 ment/ r the priest added'. In the new; wihgr'the old Gothic- architecture has; been followed. We have already received visitors from all over tlie world." ' Strawberry Hilt was; bougnt by Walpole in 1747. The interior decorations and enlargements carried out by him were .churchlike, in appearance. Some of the mantelpieces are replicas of tombs*; another is of inlaid? marble, which was worth £3OO even in the eighteenth century. One ceiling is an extraordinarily fine copy of that in Henry VHl.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey. Jhe mansion afterwards passed into the possession of the Waldegrave family. The last owner was Lord Miclielham, and the Roman Catholics bought tlie mansion from Lady Michelham. Therewere 30; acres of beautiful gardens*.