Theodore House
In 1840, the Jesuit community at Stonyhurst built a three-storey mill, and developed the two canal ponds that currently grace the driveway to power the mill’s functioning. This was an important part of the development of the College’s estate, serving to feed the rapidly-growing school community that had moved over from St Omer’s, France, to Stonyhurst Hall only 47 years earlier.
The Mill’s substantial block was further extended later in the 19th century to accommodate an engine as its primary power source, adding two further and smaller parallel pitched slate roofs to the existant three.
By the turn of the second millenium, the Old Mill – a Grade II listed building – had long since fallen into disuse, and in May 2010 the roof and part of the interior collapsed.
The Mill’s historical value was nonetheless still recognisable as an example of an industrial building built to serve a largely self-sufficient Stonyhurst community.
In 2017, The Christian Heritage Centre charity leased the site of the Old Mill, together with the woodlands surrounding it, and raised the necessary monies to clear and reinforce the Old Mill’s walls, and to create a new building within.
The newly-rennovated Theodore House was opened on 15th February 2019 by Lord Nicholas Windsor, and in the presence of Lord Shuttleworth, the Lord Lietenant of Lancashire. Theodore House provides accommodation, conference, retreat and meeting spaces for the charity’s events, as well as for other organisations in the region, nationally and internationally.
Theodore House won the 2019 Regional Award for Building Excellence from the Local Authority Building Control.
