It was Thomas de Etton who built, in the second half of the 14th century, the fortified manor house, a large tower almost square, whose basement still forms the core of the present building.

It was later owned by Thomas Fairfax and changed hands a number of times before the Benedictine monks at Ampleforth Abbey bought the property in 1929.

[5] In January 2018 a proposal was made to close the site, with the remaining pupils moved to a new junior house at the main Ampleforth College.

[16][17] Noted for its fine Music Department, its choirs not only sang regularly at Ampleforth College, but also appeared on Radio and Television.

Three monks and two lay teachers were convicted of sex crimes against over 30 pupils between the 1960s and 2010, including Father Piers Grant-Ferris, the son of a Tory peer, who in 2005 admitted to 20 incidents of child abuse.

The Yorkshire Post reported in the same year that "Pupils ... suffered decades of abuse from at least six paedophiles following a decision by former Abbot Basil Hume not to call in police at the beginning of the scandal.