One Hundred Years of Heythrop College: Then vs. Now
- Jamie Hennessy Jackson
- 6 hours ago
- 5 min read
The 25th of August 2026 will mark one hundred years to the day since Fr William Bodkin SJ stepped over the threshold at Heythrop Hall near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, to take charge as the first Rector of the newly established Heythrop College. Bodkin prematurely ended his term as Provincial to take up this post as head of the Province’s new “Collegium Maximum”, which combined Jesuit Philosophers and Theologians under one roof, as it was felt of vital importance to get a capable and experienced man for the job.[1] This was the latest chapter in an educational institution which claimed its lineage as far back as the house of priestly studies established in Louvain, Belgium in 1614, moving from there to Liège, Stonyhurst, and St Beuno’s, before settling at Heythrop Hall. The college made its final move to London in 1970 (although even then it couldn’t quite sit still, shifting from Cavendish Square to Kensington Square in 1993), and since then the Heythrop estate has undergone many transfers of ownership, renovations, and expansions.
Accordingly, when the Archives team decided back in April to celebrate the centenary year of its foundation and visit what is now Heythrop Park, an upmarket country hotel and golf course, we were not expecting to see much resemblance to photographs of the house and grounds taken by the pioneering cohorts of the late 1920s. Much to our surprise, however, the original constructions are still recognisable underneath the modern revamping, and in many cases even the original fittings and decorations are still present. The front façade and main reception hall appear much the same, and the library room remains unchanged in many ways, with the carved wooden fireplace exactly as it was a century ago. The ceilings, unique to every room and ornately decorated with gold leaf, are completely unaltered. The cemetery has been well-maintained by successive generations of staff and the crucifix is identical, and even the chapel, now converted into a restaurant with raised flooring, is recognizable. Beneath the swanky refurbishments, entertainment spaces, and spa facilities lies an estate with a history nearly as storied as the college to which it gave its name.
The house was originally built for Charles Talbot, 1st (and last) Duke of Shrewsbury, with work beginning in 1705. It stayed with the Talbots until an 1831 fire heavily damaged the interior, and it then sat in ruins for nearly 40 years, until eventually they sold the remains to the Brassey family. A local property magnate William Parlour then bought the entire 5000-acre estate, and it was from him that the Jesuits purchased their modest parcel of the main house and 437 acres. Correspondence held in the archives reveals that the decision to establish a combined Theologate and Philosophate had been postulated as far back as 1907[2], but a combination of prohibitive expenses and the First World War meant that it was not until January 1923 that the purchase was finalised. Procurator of the Province Fr Joseph Blackett SJ and others then spent the following three and a half years preparing Heythrop for a large incoming contingent of Jesuit scholastics: building two accommodation wings, a chapel, restoring the gardens, furnishing, fitting, and renovating.
Heythrop’s archives highlight several issues which cropped up during this interregnum period. There were concerns that the flooring of the house would not be able to support the weight of the sheer volume of books which made up the library (It was eventually decided that these concerns could be "safely" ignored).[3] Perhaps the most unrelenting stress was the litany of legal disputes which arose surrounding local timber merchant Charles Claridge, to whom the Province had sold some small portions of land for tree felling and the construction of a saw mill. In violation of their agreement, Claridge felled an excessive number of trees, and then transported the timber in wet weather over a stone bridge on Jesuit land, causing some damage to the bridge. This seemingly banal incident caused a veritable hurricane of litigious action which would plague the Jesuits for the majority of the 1920s. Box upon box of correspondence, court documents, agreements and maps outline an intricate web of legal disputes, with the Province, Claridge, and William Parlour all making claims and counter-claims against the others for damages, trespass, and loss of income.[4] Whilst the cataloguing process involved de-accessioning a significant quantity of duplicate material, there is still nearly five boxes worth of papers relating to this debacle.
From its opening in Summer 1926, Heythrop served as a key educational centre for the Province. In the late 1950s, its role expanded even further under the “Greater Heythrop Scheme”, which involved opening up their teaching to other religious orders and enlarging their facilities. By 1965, Heythrop had a new library, had renovated the original mansion block, and a range of religious orders were sending scholastics to study there, with the Salvatorians and Montfort Fathers even building their own accommodation blocks on the estate. That year, Heythrop’s status was elevated further to Pontifical Athenaeum, a papal university approved by the Holy See in Rome, with Cardinal John Heenan as inaugural Chancellor. However, only two years later, the prospect of closing entirely and moving the institution once more was being considered, and by June 1968 they had settled on London. A year later they had been accepted into the University of London, and the Jesuit presence in Oxfordshire came to an end as Heythrop Hall was sold to NatWest to serve as a training college for their own bankers-in-formation (for whom a vow of poverty is not required, even frowned upon).
Looking back on the College one hundred years since the Jesuits arrived, it was touching to visit a place which we know so well from documents, photographs, and the stories of those who studied there, and see that Jesuit fingerprints are still clearly visible in the buildings and grounds of this grand estate. Of course, not everything remains. The bottle-nosed whale skeleton which Albert Brassey had hanging in a specially constructed artificial cave is now in a museum. Billy Smart’s circus doesn’t winter their animals in the grounds of Heythrop as they did while the Society was there, meaning that elephants trudging through the snowy Cotswolds landscape is no longer a common sight. But what is still patently evident is what attracted the Society to this picturesque corner of England. Brother Richard Hackett SJ wrote of the house in 1965: ‘What a lovely sight to behold. As the sun sinks down between the trees and twilight approaches, Heythrop Hall takes on a fairy-like quality, so quiet and peaceful’.[5] The Jesuit presence there may now be limited to names inscribed on headstones, but its legacy lives on: in the holdings of the Province Archives, in its extensive Library still serving as a valuable resource at the London Jesuit Centre, and in the memories and works of those who lived and trained there.
The Heythrop College Oxon (GB BJA HC/1) collection will soon be available on our new online catalogue. All archival photographs in this article are catalogued under BJA HC/1/18/6. If you would like more information, please get in touch.
An expanded version of this article will appear in the forthcoming edition of Letters & Notices.
[1] Letters & Notices, Vol. XLI (1926), p. 249.
[2] GB BJA HC/1/9/1.
[3] GB BJA HC/1/9/5.
[4] GB BJA HC/1/10.
[5] GB BJA HC/1/8/1.
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