Stonyhurst

Stonyhurst is the name of a 300acre 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 EstateThe 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.