Heythrop College, University of London

Heythrop College was the University of London’s specialist centre for philosophy and theology until 2019, housed in Kensington Square. It grew from the Jesuits’ long tradition of scholarship that began in Leuven in 1614 and moved through Liège to England. The college welcomed students of all faiths while keeping its Catholic roots through the British Jesuit Province. Five research institutes and close ties to Fordham University in New York supported its academic work. External groups such as A Call To Action also met on site. The college took its name from Heythrop Hall, a Grade II* listed 18th-century Italian Baroque mansion in Oxfordshire. The Jesuits bought the decaying house in 1926 and added north wings in darker Hornton ironstone. In the 1950s they turned a real tennis court into a chapel and built a library. Two modern halls of residence appeared in the grounds during the 1960s. The estate passed to NatWest Group after the college moved to London in 1970. Visitors to the old Kensington site found a quiet square of Georgian terraces. Inside, seminar rooms and lecture halls carried the weight of centuries of Jesuit teaching. The college’s library still held the Society’s historic collections gathered across Europe. Though the college has closed, the Kensington Square building remains part of the University of London’s estate.