Grace Dieu Manor of a zealous and wealthy convert to Roman Catholicism, Ambrose de Lisle, Whitwick became an important centre of the Roman Catholic revival. It was due to De Lisle that a Cistercian monastery, Mount St. Bernard Abbey, was established within the parish in 1835, and a church (designed by Pugin) was built on Parsonwood Hill in 1837. In 1875, a small convent of Rosminian nuns was established in the presbytery, which had been built adjacent to the original church in August 1848, and which transferred to Loughborough in the twentieth century. The presbytery, still referred to as 'The Old Convent' is now a private residence and was designated a Grade II listed building in 1983. In establishing his mission, De Lisle recruited a charismatic priest, Aloysius Gentili, from Rome, who arrived at Gracedieu in June 1840 and by May of the following year, De Lisle claimed that some five hundred and twenty persons had become converted to the catholic faith as a result of Gentilli's outreach. The present Roman Catholic Church was built in 1904 from the designs of Thomas Ignatius McCarthy. This was built on the opposite side of Parsonwood Hill, at which time Pugin's church was demolished, though the cemetery of the old church remains. A school was also built to the rear of the new church to replace the original school at Turylog (Thurlough), which had been opened in 1843. A tower was added to the new church in about 1910, from funds bequeathed by Samuel Wilson Hallam, landlord of the Queen's Head, Thringstone. The tower contains a chime of fifteen bells operated by a baton keyboard, located in the first storey chamber of the tower and which was installed by Taylors of Loughborough in 1960. Roman Catholic Priests of Whitwick Local public houses In Whitwick there has been, at one time or another, thirty-nine licensed establishments, either an Inn, Public House, Hostelry or Social Club. Most have now closed and even been demolished. Below is an itemised list of the establishments: Local government In the 2007 North West Leicestershire District Council elections, the British National Party won both Hugglescote and Whitwick - the first seats to be won by the BNP in Leicestershire and Whitwick gained its first Conservative councillor. Councillors for Whitwick are currently Derek Howe (Labour); Tony Gillard (Conservative) and Ray Woodward(Labour). Since May 2013 Whitwick has been represented at County Council