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St. Mary's Convent and School

The only source I have found (yet) on the construction of St. Mary's places it about 1925. I'm going to look in this on my next trip to the Suffolk County Archives, but if anyone wishes contribute to this article, please feel free to write in the Discus section below.

What I do know from primary source research is this-

St. Mary's Convent was part of a complex of buildings directed by the Sisters of Mercy, an order of nuns in the Catholic Church. They had several Roman Catholic affiliated establishments in the Kirkly area, to include a boy's school that was located about where the Thatched Hut is across from Lord Kitchener's in the Kirkley Cliff Terrace, as well as St. Mary's Primary School.

After WWII, St. Luke's Hospital was torn down and the Convent bought the land. At first it was used as a playing field for the schools with the official opening of the playing field on 30 September, 1960.

On the 30th of November, 1962 the Convent proposed a new Roman Catholic primary school to be built on part of the convents playing field and submitted a planning request to the Lowestoft Committee for Education and by 17 December, 1965 approval of the plans was granted.

While this was a positive move forward for the convent just a few month later an 11th February, 1966 article in the Lowestoft Journal reported rumours of the proposed closure of the convent.

On 16 Oct 1970 the main school opened, with much fanfare, a new £3,5000 science laboratory, but it wasn't enough to keep the school open. The headmistress at the time said that with rising expectations of what a school should deliver, the convent could not charge the fees it needed to compete with state schools.

It closed July 6, 1973, and with the closure the large site as put up for sale and began to be parceled out.

The school itself sold at auction for £35,000 to L. G. Moody on behalf of Moodys Holiday Camp, Ltd. of Hopton-on -Sea on 21 September, 1973. And by 1 April, 1977 Moody's started work to build 35 flats as part of a particulaly ugly building. It does have stunning views. It's a pity the building doesn't have stunning windows to see them from.

The announcement that the last part of the convent was going to close came on 24 November, 1989. The convent was offered for sale at £750,000 on 20 April, 1990 and the Suffolk Water Company bought it on 13 of March, 1992.

The Water company enjoyed beautiful sea views until April of 2014, when they moved to brand-new digs built on a brownfield in the old industrial area. They sold the old convent for £605,000 on 17 April, 2015.

It is now scheduled to be torn down and a new terrace will be built on the site. I hope...I sincerely and emphatically hope...that the new building is much better looking than the last two built next door.