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Last Updated
21st July 2001

The Benedictine Nuns of Old Heath Hall


The Community Today

In 1835 the Benedictines moved from Orrell Mount and settled near Rugby.  They built Princethorpe Priory and the order opened a school.  Dwindling vocations and changes in the education system meant that by the mid twentieth century it was impractical for the order to maintain a school and property of that size.  In 1966 the community moved to Fernham in Oxfordshire where they remain today.

The modern day nuns still keep the four sous, the only money the order had on their arrival in Britain.  They also sing the “Domine salvum fac regem” daily in remembrance of the kindness shown them by the Prince of Wales in 1792.
 

In Wakefield the Hall they once stayed in is long demolished but traces of their stay are still to be found in the Heath area.  The Priest's House still bears that name and can be seen next to the gate-
posts which once led to the Hall.
The Priest's House in 2001

The graves of the various nuns who passed away during the stay at Old Heath Hall can be found in the churchyard at Kirkthorpe, not far from the site of the hall.  They bear no names but simply the initials of the deceased, together with the O.S.B. denoting Order of St. Benedict, a simple cross and the letters RIP.  The exception is Emilia Monteira who died aged only 15, a novice at the convent.
 
The nuns' graves at Kirkthorpe



 
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