The college, opened under the superintendence of Cornelius Denvir, has been on the same site since 1833 when Bishop Crolly took the lease on an eleven-acre site on the northern fringes of the then small Georgian town – Vicinage House – which today is recalled on the street next to the college, Vicinage Park. Vicinage Farm was owned by Thomas McCabe (United Irishmen), a watchmaker by trade, a strong liberal voice and advocate of Penal Law reform who was also a founder member of the Society of United Irishmen.