Local History Visit to All Hallows Church Mitton & Stonyhurst College 26 July 2025

Another good weather day for the outing, thoughtfully planned and executed by Marion and Gayle.

We met at the sandstone mediaeval church, which dates back to the 13^thC and was previously known as St Michael. It is open every day and visitors are welcomed to visit the church. It was the original place of worship in the old parish of Mitton and on the back wall in the church there is a list of rectors which goes back to 1103! In 1954, English Heritage designated All Hallows a Grade I listed building.

It was immediately noticeable that this is a church of several parts.

The plan consists of a nave, a narrower chancel, a north (Shireburne) chapel, a south porch and a west tower. The latter is in three stages, with diagonal buttresses. There is a ring of six bells.

The door leads directly to the font, where beyond that, one can see where the original entrance, now locked off, was. The nave with its Early English Gothic style, was built about 1270. The date of the roof is unknown, but cannot be earlier than the 14^thC. The pews are Jacobean in style, about 1600. The pulpit has panels with Queen Anne moulding, (not earlier than 1730) and the electronic organ is modern, being installed at the time of the Millennium Re-ordering. That re-ordering saw the 15thC tower, bricked up in the 19^thC, opened up again. The gallery where the old organ stood, is now an area for extra seating and meetings.

The chancel was added in about 1295 and has a false ceiling, installed in 1850. Both nave and chancel were tiled in 1845. The rood screen is believed to have come from Sawley Abbey after the dissolution of the monasteries, but could have been Cockersands.

In 1439, a chapel was added on the north side of the church, which was pulled down in 1594 when Sir Richard Shireburne arranged for the present chapel to be built as a family mausoleum. This chapel, divided from the chancel by the Elizabethan screen, contains memorials to the Shireburne family who lived at Stonyhurst.

The Tower was added in the early 15^thC.

Great Mitton Hall and Little Mitton Hall

Mitton Bridge built around 1900, crosses over the River Ribble below Great Mitton Hall. The bridge once connected the Yorkshire side of Great Mitton and the Lancashire side of Little Mitton. Since 1974, both sides are in the county of Lancashire, township of Mitton.

Great Mitton Hall, next to the church, was built in the 14^thC and was the site of the original manor house of the de Mittons, who remained as manor lords until 1310. The close proximity of the manor house and the church was how the Normans first built their manors, as they were the local parish priest as well as manor lords.

Great Mitton Hall in the 14^thC, would probably have been built as an H configuration. One side would have been for the servants with a cross hall to service the manor lord family. The structure would have been made of wattle and daub, with a wooden frame. Later, in the 17^thC, the stone façade was made over the original Tudor style house for fire prevention.

We were lucky enough to be spotted in the churchyard looking at her property by Jean Kay. Jean generously invited us all access in to her garden and we were able to obtain super photos of the house and the beautiful garden she has cultivated over the last 16 years. She and her husband Ken open up their garden to the public once a year to raise money for charities. The garden was to be opened that coming weekend.

Close by, on the other side of the river, is Little Mitton Hall built by Ralph Catterall in the 1480s. The “Little” has now been dropped and since 1974, just called Mitton Hall. It was purchased in 1860 by John Aspinall, member of another well-known local family, who rebuilt and added to the original building. The crowning glory of Mitton Hall is the magnificent oak-panelled Great Gall. A minstrels gallery runs eight feet above the floor and the west wall features an original stone fireplace containing a priest hole discovered in 1874.

During WWII the hall was used to house officers of the Third Field Training Regiment and dances were held in the upstairs ballroom. It later became an hotel, then a club and currently is an hotel and restaurant. We repaired there for refreshments after our next exciting venue.

Stonyhurst College and Hall Barns

On then to Stonyhurst College for a talk from Marion about the history of the college, as we sat in the sun outside the college Chapel.

Stonyhurst is a co-educational public school adhering to the Jesuit tradition. The earliest deed concerning Stanihurst is held in the college Arundell Library and dates from approximately 1200. In 1372, a licence was granted to John de Bayley for an oratory on the site. His descendants, the Shireburne family, completed the oldest portion of the extant buildings. Richard Shireburne began building the hall, which was enlarged by his grandson Nicholas, who also constructed the ponds, avenue and gardens. The estate passed after his death to his wife and then to their daughter Mary, Duchess of Norfolk.

The school goes back to the days when English boys were unable to receive a Catholic education in Elizabethan England, so were educated in expatriate schools on the European mainland. After a complicated history, the Jesuits running these schools were forced to flee and moved to Stonyhurst in 1794. Over the next century student numbers rose and by the turn of the following century, it had become England’s largest Catholic college. A seminary was constructed on the estate and an observatory and meteorological station erected in the gardens.

Many changes in both buildings and teaching have happened over subsequent years and famous alumni include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Laughton and former DG of the BBC, Mark Thompson. Stonyhurst has a strong sporting tradition and has produced Rugby World Cup winners, as well as famous faces in science, music and academics.

But the piece de resistance awaited us just a five-minute stroll away at Hall Barn Farm (courtesy of the tenant farmers there). The large cruck barn at Hall Barns looks fairly ordinary from the outside, with its patchwork of later stone walls and garage type sliding door. Cruck frames support the roof directly from the ground, so you can’t always tell from the walls what is

inside………

Five pairs of crucks shoot up in to the gloom. They are joined by very high collars and have two spurs supporting the timber wall posts which are now almost hidden in the stone walls.

The blades measure at least one foot by two feet at the base and are at least 24 feet tall.

And lucky cows still get to winter there!

Words by Judith

Photos by Judith and Phyllida