My Memories Of Heythrop College, Enstone, Oxfordhire.

A Memory of Enstone.

The medical welfare of the Jesuit students of Heythrop was the concern of Brother Edward Toon S.J., (1901-1979). He entered the Society of Jesus in 1922 and took his final vows in 1932. He was the Infirmarian of the College between 1955 and circa 1958. His role necessitated frequent contact with my father who worked at Boots the Chemist in Chipping Norton - the two became good friends. I used to cycle there, with my friends from Chipping Norton, to major festivals at the college, for example the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Heythrop had been functioning as a centre of learning for Jesuit students since the mid 1920s. In the late nineteenth century the Superior General in Rome had urged the English Provincial Superior to form a “Collegium Maximum”, a college which had virtually the status of a university. Scholars were gathered there from other Jesuit institutions. Philosophers came from St. Mary’s Hall at Stoneyhurst in the north of England and theologians from St. Bueno’s near St. Asaph’s in North Wales. Its students were awarded degrees of the Jesuit-run Gregorian University in Rome. The grounds were extensive and I was particularly fascinated by the skeleton of a whale. This had been in the possession of a great traveller, Thomas Brassey, whose brother Albert had bought the estate in 1870. My mum , being a female, was not allowed access to the College itself and she had to wait outside while my dad and I were given a guided tour by Brother Toon. The entire family, however, were treated to afternoon tea in the grounds and then driven home.

The College operated until 1969 when it was sold to the NatWest Bank and it is now a hotel and country club.