St Bede’s History

Their history become our present, your future will become our history

St Bede’s College was founded in 1876 by Cardinal Vaughan, who at that time was Bishop of Salford. Initially situated on Grosvenor Square just off Oxford Road, the College moved to its present site in 1877, when Bishop Vaughan purchased the land off Alexandra Road which included the Manchester Aquarium, which became the Academic Hall.

The Vaughan Building was built in two stages after this in the 1870’s and early 1880’s, the College Chapel was built in 1898. There was a pause in construction before the addition of the Henshaw Building in 1932, named after the fifth Bishop of Salford and the Beck Building in 1958 which was named after the seventh Bishop of Salford. The Regis Building, originally a retreat house for the Cenacle was bought by the College in 1970.