Since leaving Dieulouard in Lorraine, where its members had joined Spanish and Cassinese Benedictines to form the monastery of St Laurence, the community had been successively at Acton Burnell, Tranmere, Scholes, Vernon Hall and Parbold Hall, under its superior, Dr Marsh.

On its migration to Ampleforth Lodge Dr Marsh remained at Parbold and Father Appleton was elected the first prior of the new monastery.

John Cuthbert Hedley, Bishop of Newport, was an alumnus, as was a superior of Ampleforth, Abbot Smith.

[5][6] Blazon: Per fesse dancetté Or and Azure a chief per pale Gules and of the second charged on the dexter with two keys in saltire Or and Argent and on the sinister with a Cross Flory between five martlets of the first.

The church has a cruciform plan, with a sanctuary at the crossing over which is a tower, a retrochoir to the west and a nave to the east, both with side chapels, and a narrow north aisle.

The tower has clasping buttresses, three pairs of bell openings on each face, and a lightly embattled parapet.

[16] In November 2017, as part of its larger mandate, the national Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) undertook an investigation into the prevalence of paedophilia in the English Benedictine Congregation and its failures in protecting young people over many decades, focusing on the abbeys of Downside in Somerset, Ealing in London and Ampleforth in North Yorkshire.

The final report outlined a series of failures at Ampleforth but also noted the ongoing efforts of both the Abbey and College to address the safeguarding concerns.

[17] It found credible allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse perpetrated by monks and lay members of Ampleforth.

In addition safeguarding concerns were noted about some monks relating to grooming, inappropriate touching and pornography addiction.