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Shenley Lane, ST. ALBANS, AL2 1AG

All Saints Centre remains a striking landmark from M25. First an Anglican convent with buildings by Catholic architects (main buildings and the attractive gate lodge on the right of this view, Leonard Stokes; chapel Ninian Comper), it was from 1973 a conference and retreat centre for the Catholic Diocese of Westminster, which sold it in 2011. The development company Comer exhibited plans to convert the main building to 30 luxury flats and build 170 new homes west of it (behind in this view) in March 2015 but as far as I can make out no planning application has yet been submitted. Attempts by London Colney parish council to get first the whole site and then the chapel listed as an asset of community value were both rejected by St Albans council; the chapel is reportedly in poor repair. This view was available by scrambling through a roadside ditch with flytipped rubbish.

All Saints Centre remains a striking landmark from M25. First an Anglican convent with buildings by Catholic architects (main buildings Leonard Stokes; chapel Ninian Comper), it was from 1973 a conference and retreat centre for the Catholic Diocese of Westminster, which sold it in 2011. The development company Comer exhibited plans to convert the main building to 30 luxury flats and build 170 new homes west of it (behind in this view) in March 2015 but as far as I can make out, no planning application has yet been submitted. Attempts by London Colney parish council to get first the whole site and then the chapel listed as an asset of community value were both rejected by St Albans council; the chapel is reportedly in poor repair. In the autumn of 2021 the site featured prominently as a location in Series 12 of the Avalon Television comedy challenge series Taskmaster, broadcast on Channel 4. This view was available by scrambling through a roadside ditch with flytipped rubbish.

For a description of the chapel, see Image

A youth centre attached to the All Saints Pastoral Centre Image

The building on the right was completed in 1901 as a convent for the All Saints Sisters of the Poor, an Anglican order, to the design of Leonard Stokes. The Chapel on the left was added between 1921 and 1928 to the design of the renowned church architect, Sir Ninian Comper (1864-1960), and extended by his son Sebastian Comper between 1960 and 1964. It is therefore, unsurprisingly, known as the Comper Chapel. The whole building was acquired by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster in 1973, and today caters for both residential and non-residential conferences, meetings and retreats, mainly from religious organizations. http://www.allsaintspc.org.uk/

The complex was once a convent, built in 1899 for an Anglican order. It was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster in the mid-1970s and became a Retreat/Conference/Training Centre with residential accommodation.