In 1844 it was bought by John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, and he offered it in 1846 to Frederick William Faber as a rural retreat for his small Roman Catholic community, called the Brothers of the Will of God, in Birmingham.

[1][2] The Anglican church of St John the Baptist, in the Diocese of Lichfield, is a Grade II listed building.

It is built of red brick on an ashlar plinth, and has a slate roof; it has a two-bay nave and a single-bay chancel.

The architect was August Pugin, who had designed St. Giles' Catholic Church, Cheadle for the Earl of Shrewsbury.

To provide space for the expanding college, there were additions in 1936–37 by the architect George Drysdale, which included extending the chancel.