In 1792 the monks were expelled from France during the French Revolution. About the same time, Fr Anselm Bolton was resident in a lodge at Ampleforth. He had been Chaplain to Lady Anne Fairfax at Gilling Castle, just two miles away (formerly the site of the Preparatory School). She had built Ampleforth Lodge for him just before she died, but in 1802 Fr Anselm handed the house over to his brethren to be their new monastery. In the following year (1803) the new monastery school was opened. In 1900 the major monastic houses became independent Abbeys with their own elected Abbot. At this time Ampleforth was a community of just under 100 monks and the first Abbot of Ampleforth was Fr Oswald Smith, who continued in office until his death in 1924. He was succeeded as Abbot by Fr Edmund Matthews, who appointed Fr Paul Nevill as Headmaster of the school. At its height in the mid-1960s there were 169 monks in the community. The community is now a third of that. The monks continue to work in the schools, on parishes, and in the hospitality apostolate, offering retreats and courses to the thousands of visitors who come to Ampleforth each year.