La Sainte Union

After the French revolution Catholic education was limited by the state. In 1826 the order of La Sainte Union de Sacre Coeurs was founded to promote catholic education in France. In 1829 the attitude to Catholics in England was easing with the Catholic Emancipation Act.

In 1830 the first Catholic church in Southampton, St. Joseph’s was opened. In 1880 the Sisters of La Sainte Union arrived in Southampton. They purchased Archers Lodge and opened The Convent High School for boarders in 1881. In 1904 a day school, St.Anne’s was opened. The two institutions merged in the 1960’s on the St. Anne’s site.

In 1899 the Sisters had opened a Teachers Centre which became a female residential teacher training college in 1904. It was known as La Sainte Union College of Higher of Education. Later it became LSU and accepted students of all faiths and none.

The site was taken over by Southampton University when the teacher training courses ceased in 1997 becoming New College. It is currently a residential development, incorporating some of the original buildings which are Grade II listed.