The first performances took place in 1910, and in 1922 a cinema projector was acquired, but could not be used until the following year when electric lighting and central heating were installed.

[11] In 1895, the North Eastern Railway built a 3 foot (0.91 m) gauge tramway from Gilling station on the Thirsk to Malton Line.

In September 2005, Ampleforth was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found by the Office of Fair Trading to be operating a fee-fixing cartel in breach of the Competition Act of 1998.

[24] Initially several monks and three members of the lay teaching staff were accused of molesting children in their care over a period of several decades.

The Yorkshire Post reported in 2005: "Pupils at a leading Roman Catholic school suffered decades of abuse from at least six paedophiles following a decision by former Abbot Basil Hume [later a cardinal, and Archbishop of Westminster] not to call in police at the beginning of the scandal.

"[25][26] Following the case, the Abbot, Fr Cuthbert Madden, offered a "heartfelt apology" to the victims of one member of staff.

[28] In accordance with this policy, in 2016 Fr Madden temporarily stepped down from his role of Chairman of Governors during the investigation of indecent assault allegations made by four former pupils.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) investigated the English Benedictine Congregation, including Ampleforth College and Downside School, amongst other institutions, and published a report in August 2018.

New procedures were introduced in 2001 following the Nolan Report, recommending that abuse should be referred to the statutory authorities, however allegations continued to be handled internally.

[33][34] The Department for Education released a report in November 2020 following an inspection, claiming that the school in some respects appeared to have relapsed in the year since the change of leadership.

The school responded that it had taken "very considerable steps forward" and put in place "a robust safeguarding regime, a new senior leadership team, and a new governance structure that has effectively separated the abbey from the college", and said that it intended to appeal the decision.

In his first interview on the matter, headmaster Robin Dyer stated in December 2020 that there was "no evidence expressed in the report" of any instances "to do with emergencies [or] to do with harm to children".

Inspectors reported that they were satisfied with Ampleforth's progress, and the Department for Education signed off on the school's safeguarding action plan.

[41][42] Local MP Kevin Hollinrake stated that "I want to make clear that I am supportive of the school in this situation, and I feel that there is a fundamental dispute of the facts behind the assessment, that needs to be resolved".

[43] The Charity Commission reported in 2024 that its inquiry had found many "serious abuse allegations" of offences committed against pupils by monks and staff over the preceding decade, with "significant weaknesses" in the safeguarding, governance and management of the two trusts running the college.

[3] The school has educated many notable figures including King Letsie III of Lesotho;[46] Rupert Everett; David Stirling, Lord Fellowes of West Stafford; Lord Bamford; Sir Antony Gormley; James O'Brien; Timothy Oulton; Robert Nairac; actor James Norton; painter Vincent Haddelsey, Rugby World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio; authors Piers Paul Read and John William Polidori; historians William Dalrymple, Patrick French and John Keay.