To the south is the Roman Catholic Olton Friary. Built in 1873 as St Bernard's Catholic Seminary by Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne, the first Catholic bishop of Birmingham, it closed in 1889 when the bishop's successor moved the seminary to Oscott. The building was purchased by the Capuchin Friars and became the Franciscan Monastery of the Immaculate Conception. The friars left on 10 January 1981 and the Sacred Heart Fathers and Brothers of Bétharram took over the running of the parish.