The first limited version, produced for CCM for the 'spiritual opening' of the house in 2007 was compiled by Monica Hill from the original book 'Family Prayers' by the late Henry Thornton MP, which was first published in 1834 from a collection of prayers written for the use of his own family and household.
Henry Thornton is thought to be the first to introduce regular daily family prayers into his household and his example was rapidly followed by many families in Victorian Britain.
This small collection of one week's prayers has been specially prepared to make them suitable for visitors to the house where they would have been used during the lifetime of Henry Thornton and his cousin Godfrey Thornton who owned Moggerhanger Park until his death in 1805 when he was succeeded by his son Stephen Thornton.
Background History
CCM had been waiting to run residential conference courses at Moggerhanger House since its purchase for this purpose in 1993. The discovery of the links that the original owners had with the Clapham Sect led to this production of this limited edition of some of Henry Thornton’s prayers with the history in each bedroom with further copies available for purchase. Two further editions were planned which were never produced as it was ten more years before the bedrooms were brought into use for accommodation.