I enjoyed a Retreat Day at St Mark's College on Monday organised by the Diocesan Youth Advisers. The Centre is available to youth, school and adult groups for residential stays, day conferences and retreats. A range of facilities and activities are available on and around the site.
The foundations of the chapel, the oldest part of the buildings, were laid in 1258 as the infirmary (hospital) for the Benedictine monks of Walden Abbey which was on the present site of Audley End House.
After the monastery was dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII the property was rebuilt and completed by 1611 as almshouses (a place for the poor to live) by the Earl of Suffolk who built the present Audley End House. Since then it has been a farm and in fact where you will be sleeping, if you stay with us, was the home for the pigs.
In 1949 it changed use again and was given to the Dioceses of Chelmsford by Lord Braybrook to become a home for retired clergy. In 1993 it underwent a major refurbishment to be set up as a youth and conference centre.
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The Frames - Revelate.
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