Stonyhurst
| Stonyhurst | |
|---|---|
 Stonyhurst
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| Stonyhurst shown within Lancashire | |
| OS grid reference | SD684379 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CLITHEROE |
| Police | Lancashire |
| Fire | Lancashire |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
Stonyhurst is the name of a 300-acre (1.2 km2) rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is mainly occupied by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish church, St Peter's.
The grounds are bounded by the River Hodder, the village of Hurst Green and Longridge Fell. The Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty overlaps in places.
The earliest deed for the estate dates back to 1200 A.D. when it was known as the "Stanihurst". It passed through the Bayley family to their descendants, the Sherburnes, before passing into the hands of Thomas Weld of Lulworth. Already possessing a large estate, he donated it to the Jesuits in 1794 as a new home for their school, of which he was an old boy when it was located at Liege. A junior branch of the Sherburnes, who had earlier fled to Oxford to build and dwell in Beam Hall, subsequently emigrated to New England, where they contributed in various ways to the early history of the United States; these descendants included Henry Sherburne and John Sherburne.
Stonyhurst College and Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall are Jesuit boarding schools with approximately 800 pupils in total, most of whom are boarders. The schools are connected by parallel footpaths through the woods, known as Brothers' Walk. The name derives from the fact that before the schools became co-educational, pupils from the college would take the route to visit their younger brothers at Saint Mary's Hall although the term could originate from when St Mary's Hall operated as a seminary for trainee Jesuits. They walked along the path reciting the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. A number of teachers and Jesuit priests work and live on the site. Adjacent to the school buildings are workshops employing masons and craftsmen working on the maintenance and restoration of the buildings. There is a large mill which was once a granary but is currently used as a sawmill.
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Wikipedia