Places

Today it is a block of flats in Paris, 28 rue des Tanneries, Paris XIII, nearest Métro station Glacière. But in the 17th century this was the Monastery of Our Lady of Good Hope, home to the English Benedictine nuns now at St. Mary's Abbey, Colwich.

The arches are the former cloister, begun in 1693 under Reverend Mother Agnes Temple. Above were dormitory cells (rooms of the nuns). The manuscript History of the House, completed in 1695, says:
12 Cells are complete, and the arches of 14 more are laid.

The nuns had bought the house on the outskirts of Paris in 1664, then the one next door in 1686, and built onto it. The district was known as Le Champ de l'Alouette, the Lark's Field. The History adds of Mother Agnes Temple:
Besides the building of the dorter and arches before mentioned, she built the walls round the enclosure and others in the garden, also a strong wall at the end of the house, from the bottom to the top.

From February 1652, for 13 years, the community had lived in a succession of rented houses in the area of Paris now known as the Left Bank. One house was too close to the River Seine and was flooded soon after the community moved out!
When they acquired their own home in 1664, the secluded house with the walled garden in the Champ de l'Alouette, it was ideal for a life of prayer. The community remained undisturbed for 125 years.

In the French Revolution the nuns were imprisoned. In 1794, they left the house, never to return. The contents were either stripped out by the revolutionaries, or later sold by the nuns when they regained their freedom. The building was sold by the State, and soon changed hands again.

1795
The nuns were free, but they had nothing to live on, so they travelled to England. As refugees from France, they received a warm welcome. It was now legal for priests to say Mass, so they could live quietly as nuns. After a brief stay in London, friends provided them with a house at Marnhull in Dorset, and regular monastic life began again.

1807
The community moved to a larger house at Cannington in Somerset. After 30 years, the community had grown under the Prioress, Mother Clare Knight. She moved the community to its present home at Colwich, Staffordshire.

1836
A house called The Mount was built in the 18th century at Colwich and enlarged in the early 19th century by two different owners. When the nuns bought it, with 50 acres of land, it had been standing empty for years. New building and adaptation turned it into St. Benedict's Priory.

1928
The Priory was raised to the rank of an Abbey. the house was re-named St. Mary's Abbey, and a new sanctuary was added to the church.
1970
From 1970 most of the farm land was sold for house building, the 19th century monastic buildings, now too large, were demolished, and a modern block was added.
The community has now been at Colwich for over 170 years.

This is just a summary of the community's 350 year journey. We hope later to add a page about each place where the community settled, and what happened there.

St. Scholastica's Priory at Atherstone in Warwickshire was founded by St. Benedict's Priory in 1859. The community amalgamated with the original mother house, now known as Saint Mary's Abbey, in 1967.