Stonyhurst

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 53.846
longitude= -2.474
official_name= Stonyhurst
shire_district= Ribble Valley
shire_county = Lancashire
region= North West England
post_town= CLITHEROE
os_grid_reference= SD684379

Stonyhurst is the name of a three hundred acre rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's. [ [http://www.stonyhurst.ac.uk/article_31.shtml The College ] ]

The Estate

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. [ [http://www.forestofbowland.com/visit_attractions_interest.asp#Stonyhurst Places of Interest in The Forest of Bowland Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) ] ]

The earliest deed for the estate dates back to 1200 A.D. when it was known as the "Stanihurst".A Stonyhurst Handbook for Visitors and Others, third edition, 1963] It passed through the Bayley family to their descendants, the Shireburns, 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. [T. E. Muir, Stonyhurst]

Buildings

Stonyhurst College and Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall are both Jesuit boarding schools with approximately eight hundred pupils in total, some of whom are in residence for the duration of the school term. The two schools are connected by two parallel footpaths through the woods, known as Brothers' Walk (so called because - before the schools became co-educational -pupils from the College would take the route to visit their younger brothers at Saint Mary's Hall).

A number of teachers and Jesuit priests work and live on the site. Adjacent to the school buildings are workshops which employ masons and craftsmen working on the maintenance and restoration of the buildings. There is also a large mill which was once a granary but is currently used as a sawmill.

The Church of St Peter is the parish church for the neighbouring village of Hurst Green. [ [http://www.salforddiocese.org.uk/parishes/masstimes.html#STONYHURST Parish details ( Mass times and Websites ) ] ]

The estate contains the two hamlets of Stockbridge and Woodfields, both of which are inhabited by teachers from Stonyhurst College. Hodder Place, the former site of the preparatory school is now divided into residential flats which are privately owned; the grounds remain part of the estate however.

Richard Shireburn built an almshouse upon Longridge Fell, the predecessor of the Shireburn Almshouse, which his son Nicholas built c.1707. The latter was dismantled in 1946 and re-erected in Hurst Green.

Monuments

There are a number of religious monuments dotted around the area, a reminder of the Jesuit presence and strength of Catholicism [T. E. Muir, Stonyhurst, pp. 55-61, esp. p.56: Lancashire, the "very Catholic county"] within the locality. Most notably, the Lady Statue stands at the top of the Avenue connecting Stonyhurst College with the nearby village of Hurst Green. It was erected in 1882, and is inscribed with the legend "Ave Maria", "Hail Mary".

Cromwell's rock is also situated at the top of the Avenue, near the graveyard for St Peter's Church. According to tradition, Cromwell stood on this inconspicuous stone and decscribed the mansion ahead of him as "the finest half-house in England" (the symmetry of the building was, at that time, incomplete).

Four old crosses stand at disparate locations around the estate. Pupils from the school used to visit each cross in an annual pilgrimage to mark Palm Sunday. [http://www.stonyhurst.ac.uk/article_1095.shtml General News] The Pinfold Cross is a memorial to a former servant at Stonyhurst College and fiddler, James Wells, who fell to his death in a quarry nearby. It was erected in 1834 at Stockbridge. On the front is inscribed the legend, ‘WATCH FOR YOU KNOW NOT THE DAY NOR HOUR.’ Above this is written, ‘OFT EVENINGS GLAD MAKE MORNINGS SAD’. On the left is ‘PRAY FOR THE SOUL OF JAMES WELLS’ and on the right, ‘DIED FEB. 12TH, 1834’.

Saint Paulinus' Cross stands at Kemple End and is a listed monument, believed to date from Anglo-Saxon times. It may well mark a spot at which Saint Paulinus of York, who converted King Edwin of Northumbria and founded the See of York, preached.

Cross Gills Farm Cross is thought to have come from a Church and has '1910' graffitied onto it. An old wives’ tale records how a farmer quickly replaced the cross when his cattle died after he threw the original into the river.

Stonyhurst Park Cross stands above the River Hodder in the woods close to the former Jesuit novitiate and preparatory school, Hodder Place. A new cross was fixed to the ancient base in 1910, and was blessed on 12 June by the Rev. R. Sykes, SJ, Jesuit provincial; the origin of the earlier monument is unknown.

The grounds of St Mary's Hall contain a Marian grotto [ [http://www.saintmaryshall.com/article_373.shtml General News ] ] and statue of the Sacred Heart. [ [http://www.saintmaryshall.com/article_361.shtml General News ] ]

Tourism

The estate is a popular tourist attraction. Many come to view the grade one listed Stonyhurst College which is open for tours during the summer. [ [http://www.stonyhurst.ac.uk/otp.shtml Open to the Public ] ] The gardens of the College are also open to visitors and include a small shop in the meteorological station. The area is also criss-crossed with public footpaths, in particular the Tolkien Trail - a walk around some of the areas thought to have inspired the author during his stay at the College in the late 1940s. [ [http://www.enjoyenglandsnorthcountry.com/movies/page.asp?pagekey=16&tcat=16&tid=1 Myths & Legends England - Tolkien's Middle Earth Location - North England Movie Tourism ] ]

Public events hosted on the estate include the North West Food Festival and Ribble Valley International Piano Week.

Other visitors come to make use of the extensive sports facilities, including a golf course, swimming pool and astro-turf hockey pitch.

ee also

*Stonyhurst College
*Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall
*Hodder Place
*Hurst Green
*Lancashire
*Forest of Bowland

References

External links

* [http://www.stonyhurst.ac.uk Stonyhurst College website]
* [http://www.saintmaryshall.com/ St Mary's Hall website]