St
Beuno's College was built in 1848 as a place of study
for Jesuits. It was built as a 'theologate' on the lines
of a small Oxbridge university college. Up to this time
prospective Jesuit priests studied in Stonyhurst College,
Lancashire and for a short time abroad, but the increasing
numbers put a strain on the old buildings. So in 1846,
the then Provincial of the Jesuits in Britain, Fr Randal
Lythgoe when visiting the Jesuit parish in Holywell
travelled to see some farm land that the Society of
Jesus owned near Tremeirchion and immediately decided
that this should be the site for his new theologate.
In early Victorian days when epidemics of typhoid and
cholera regularly swept towns and cities killing large
numbers, the country air of North Wales was considered
salubrious - a suitable place to prepare the young men
to go into the new industrial towns and cities to serve
in schools and parishes.
The architect engaged for the building was Joseph Aloysius
Hansom, of Hansom Cab fame. Outwardly the fine
stone buildings gave a grand impression. Inside were
broad corridors and large but simple rooms. Gerard Manley
Hopkins, the Jesuit poet who studied at St Beuno's College
from 1874-7 described the building in a letter to his
father: "It is built of limestone, decent outside,
skimping within, Gothic like Lancing College done worse".
Hansom's St. Beuno's enclosed a square garden on the
west side of which there was a basement gallery containing
the Recreation Room, a schoolroom, two private rooms
and the Entrance Hall. On the floor above was the Library,
which looks both inside and out as though it were a
chapel, (and is a chapel today), the Rector's Room and
a 'stranger's room. On the south side, the tallest side,
rising higher than the tower, were three galleries which
housed the professors and the students. On the north
side was the monastic refectory with its pulpit for
the reader.
Within 20 years of its being built the College was too
small and extra rooms were added in the attics and a
new North Wing to the left of the Tower was built.
In the early days of the College could be said to be
environmentally friendly: Heating for the lower floor
was at least in part solar, with the heat from the greenhouse
below the West Front being channeled into the house.
Fresh water was provided from local streams which were
kept in tanks, which still exist above the terraces,
and food was grown locally both in the College's grounds
and on the adjacent College Farm. And though perhaps
not too environmentally sound, the college had its own
gas works. There was also a school built for local children.
In
1862 the College was presented with a medieval cross
by a Mr Hynde, who bought it for £5 from the Anglicans
at Corpus Christi, Tremeirchion. The Tremeirchion Rood
of Grace stood for 140 years on a plinth at the entrance
to St Beuno's before being restored and then translated
back to Tremeirchion churchyard as a Millenium gift.
It now stands proudly under the yew it was found burried
under in the mid 19th century.
In 1866, what can best be described as a folly, the
'Rock Chapel' was built on a wooded hill to the south
of St Beuno's. Designed by a Jesuit student, Ignatius
Scoles, who had followed his father's footsteps and
trained as an architect before joining the Jesuits to
become a priest.
The College remained as a Theologate
until 1926 when the students were moved to Heythrop
College in Oxfordshire. It then became a place for the
last year of Jesuit training, the Tertianship. During
the Second World War it was home to many Jesuit novices
who were sent from London, as a place of refuge from
the bombings. After the War it reverted to being a Tertianship
until 1980, although ten years earlier, the house had
begun to open to religious sisters on first 8 day and
then 30 day retreats. During the 1970's as the tertianship
became increasingly uneasy living in the countryside,
the retreat work grew from strength to strength.
Very little has been added to the St
Beuno's buildings since the 1870's, just two very poor,
unsympathetic additions, a brick built ablution block
and a boiler room.
In 2002 St Beuno's was listed as a 2* by CADW as a Welsh
Historic Monument: Denbighshire CC. Record No. 26459
Today the house has a thriving programme of retreats
all the year round, from weekends to 30 days. It also
offers courses in Ignatian Spirituality from one to
six months in duration. To see exactly what is now done,
go back to the home page.
* Much of the history on this page
has been obtained from "Canute's Tower" by
Paul Edwards. Available from St Beuno's for £4
including UK postage.
HOME
