Mount St Mary’s: Former private schools on Yorkshire border listed for sale after financial collapse last year
The sites of two former private schools on the Yorkshire border have come up for sale following their sudden closure last year.
Mount St Mary’s College, along with its associated prep school, Barlborough Hall School, closed down in July of last year.
The sites of both schools are now listed for sale by Hilco Global, including a 80.69 acre campus at Mount St Mary's College.
It comes after administrators of the company behind the schools said in October that they were undertaking efforts to sell the buildings and grounds of both schools.
The sites include a Grade II listed chapel and residential dwellings at the college, and a Grade I listed building at Barlborough Hall.
In a listing posted on Rightmove, Hilco Global said the Mount St Mary's College plot offers an “exceptional opportunity for continued use as an educational facility or for adaptation to a variety of alternative uses, subject to the necessary planning consents”.
A valuation undertaken in 2021 estimated the properties to be worth between £4m and £8m.
Mount St Mary’s, the parent company behind the Derbyshire-based schools, appointed administrators in August of 2025, citing a decade of persistent financial difficulties. Documents posted by administrators stated: “Historically, the Schools operated successfully, with student numbers combined across the Schools at around 660 in 2015. However, numbers declined steadily in subsequent years.
The introduction of VAT on school fees and rising utility costs were also cited amongst pressures faced by the schools.
Mount St Mary's College was founded by the Jesuits in Britain in 1842. The group later opened Barlborough Hall in 1939. The Jesuits in Britain directly operated the schools until 2006.