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The Bar Convent Living Heritage Centre, Blossom Street, York

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The Bar Convent was founded in 1686. It is the oldest living convent in England, and it has also run a Catholic school on the site since its foundation. https://barconvent.co.uk/

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The cloister of the Bridgettine convent 

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The building where the Higher Institute of Economics and Management (ISEG) of the University of Lisbon is located today, on Rua do Quelhas, housed for almost three centuries the Convento das Inglesinhas (1594-1861), the name by which the Bridgettine convent in Lisbon became known.

From WWTN: A small group led by their confessor Father Joseph Seth Foster arrived in Lisbon, Portugal in May 1594 from Rouen, France. At the time Portugal was ruled from Spain. The Bridgettines were a double house led by the abbess with brothers as full members: last brother died 1696. A serious fire in 1651 destroyed many buildings and most of their papers: some sources give the date of the fire as 1650. The sisters removed to the near-by convent of Esperanza for five years while their convent was rebuilt: the brothers’ accommodation survived. The nuns returned home on 4 Oct 1656.

The earthquake and subsequent fire in Lisbon 1755 affected the convent badly and they had to appeal for funds to rebuild. The Napoleonic wars when Portugal was invaded also had a serious impact on the convent. In 1809 Wellington took possession of the Bridgettine convent and the community joined the Irish Dominican convent for a time. Ten Bridgettine sisters decided to return to England settling at Aston Hall, however the rest remained in Portugal. Conditions in England proved difficult for the members there and while some returned to Portugal others drifted away. The surviving community finally returned to England in 1861 and settled in Devon; only closing in 2011.

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English Convent, Carmersstraat, Bruges, Belgium

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English Convent, Carmersstraat, Bruges, Belgium

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English Convent, Carmersstraat, Bruges, Belgium

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The English Augustinian convent in Bruges was founded in 1629 (from St Monica's at Louvain) and was known as the convent of Nazareth.

(From WWTN: In 1794 twenty two of the community left Bruges to travel to England: the plan was for the remaining eleven nuns to join them as soon as they could. By the end of 1795 only seven sisters were left in Bruges; a further five travelled to England over the course of 1797. Only Olivia Darrell (d. 1802) and Martha Ferguson a lay sister (d. 1802) remained in Bruges. The community in England initially searched for accommodation in London but by August 1794 they settled at Hengrave Hall, Suffolk. However, the community longed to return to their home in Bruges and with the Peace of Amiens 1802 the nuns voted to return to Bruges. They left Hengrave 1803 27 Oct and arrived at Bruges on 2 Nov: there they remain.)

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From WWTN: Known as Our Lady of Sion: founded in 1634 when Mary Tredway and Thomas Carre received letters patent to buy property in Paris or the suburbs to build an Augustinian monastery to receive girls and women from the principal families of England. This was confirmed by the archbishop of Paris. Mary Tredway’s quest for property was supported by Mme de Combalet, the niece of Cardinal Richelieu. There were problems with the first two sites chosen, but by 1638 they had purchased property in the rue Fossées-St-Victor (now rue du Cardinal Lemoine) where it was to remain, with its school, until the mid-nineteenth century. Although they were imprisoned for a time during the revolution they remained in Paris, their situation having been transformed by the execution of Robespierre, 28 July 1794 resulting in the end of the Terror.

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Founded in 1609 by English members of the Flemish Augustinian convent of St Ursula's. Today, its location is on the Kapucijnenvoer opposite Biezenstraat, all the way from the former Sint-Rafaëlziekenhuis and the co-housing project BotaniCo up until opposite the entrance of the Kruidtuin, Leuven’s Botanical Garden.

From WWTN: With the approach of the French revolutionary army decided to leave Louvain and go to London. They left Louvain at the end of June 1794 and reached Greenwich on 17 July. Initially they stayed in Hammersmith, but found that it was not sufficiently secluded for their needs. The community moved first to Amesbury, Wilts in January 1795 before settling finally in December 1800 in Spetisbury, Dorset where they remained for the next 60 years.

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Monastery of the English Second Order of Dominican Nuns, Rue du Chêne, Brussels, Belgium

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Monastery of the English Second Order of Dominican Nuns, Rue du Chêne, Brussels, Belgium

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The monastery of the English Second Order Dominican nuns was in Brussels from 1669-1794. Known to most of its contemporaries as Het Spellekens-Huys  (the Pin House) from a previous existence as a pin factory,  it was on a large site with extensive gardens on Rue du Chene, Brussels. The buildings eventually became very dilapidated and in 1777 the nuns built another monastery  “New Spellekens’ on a corner of the site. After the nuns had to leave Spellekens in 1794 the buildings were taken over for various military supply purposes and demolished in the early 1800s, when the whole area was cleared, replanned and rebuilt for secular use.

This community was the successor of an eminent Pre-Reformation community of nuns of the Order which experienced an earlier period of exile and subsequent demise. Their Priory of St Mary and St Margaret at Dartford in Kent was suppressed in 1539, but some of the nuns kept in touch and their community was briefly re-constituted under Mary I. The nine nuns and one postulant escaped to Flanders in 1559 on the same boat as the Bridgettines of Syon but were too impoverished to establish a permanent house.  By 1585 the last member of the community had died at the Flemish Dominican convent of Engelendael at Bruges.

(From personal correspondence with Mary Coote, who has been researching the history and buildings of this Dominican community.)

From WWTN database:

Founded in 1661 by Cardinal Philip Howard at Vilvorde near Brussels. Professions up to 1668 were made at Vilvorde, until they moved to Brussels to ‘The Spellikens’ in 1669. The church and monastery were rebuilt in 1777. In the face of the advancing revolutionary armies they fled to England and established themselves at Hartpury Court near Gloucester where they remained from 1794 to 1839.

See also: https://emen.hypotheses.org/809

https://wwtn.history.qmul.ac.uk/publications-static/pdfs/Dominicans.pdf

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The English Dominican nuns of the second Order were founded by Cardinal Philip Howard at Vilvorde (near Brussel) in 1661; in 1669, they settled in what was to be their long-term house, locally known as the Spellikens, in Brussels. On 7 April 1705, the nuns were horrified to find that their monstrance, containing the Blessed Sacrament, had been stolen. For six weeks altogether, they prayed continually and sang the Great Litanies and the Litanies of Our Blessed Lady. Nine Masses were said in honour of St Joseph, and prayers addressed to St Antony of Padua, know to help recover lost objects. This is a poignant testimony of their profound belief in the effectiveness of prayer as a mode of action. The Bishop even ordered three prayer days throughout the entire town of Brussels, with an exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. At the convent church, which was dressed in mourning purple from Easter to the Ascension, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for six days. Moreover, the nuns fasted on bread and water for two Fridays, and sat on the ground, regardless of age and infirmity, during the time normally dedicated to meals. This was done so 'that God would be pleased to manifest to us the sacriledgous thiefe'.

On 16 May 1705, John Jacobs, Master and Deacon of his trade as a mason, was ceased and imprisoned in Steenport. The nuns were all the more put out because they had employed him, and his father before him, for thirty-six years as a mason; he even served their Mass, and they 'confided in him like a Domestick.' After three days in the gaol, he confessed to the theft. He indicated he had broken the monstrance, melted the silver and gold and sold a large part to various goldsmiths. What remained, he had buried in his garden; he was promptly taken out of prison in order to show the Amtpman and the judges the exact locations of these caches, which contained the rest of the monstrance and its foot. The search revealed he had planted trees over the holes, for better concealment. The scandal was such that 'a multitude of people' came to view the garden, and 'the streets were covered with men, women & children, from four o clocke in the morning till nine at night', looking through the hedges or even trespassing into the garden, so that soldiers had to keep guard against intruders. Some tried to bribe the soldiers to let them in, and this public curiosity lasted for ten days altogether - lapsing only with the thief's execution. Yet John Jacobs did not confess to what he had done with the Blessed Sacrament, despite being racked for that information.

On 26 May 1705, John Jacobs was found guilty of sacrilege and sentenced to death. On that day, he wrote a letter (in Flemish) to the Dominican community and another to their confessor, Ambrose Grymes, then Provincial of England, begging their forgiveness. On 27 May 1705, the day after his sentence, John Jacobs was taken to the place of his execution in a cart. He was bareheaded and accompanied by a Jesuit, under the protection of armed soldiers who surrounded them on horseback. In front of the convent church which he had robbed, he climbed down from the cart, was stripped to his waist, tied to a post and whipped with three rods. Then he was placed in a pitch coat and put back in the cart, down to the market square where the scaffold had been erected. He asked the crowd's forgiveness for his crime, and finally confessed to what he had done with the Blessed Sacrament, declaring: 'Look or search no more for the holy Host which I stole, for I tooke it in my sinful mouth, for which I am sorry.' At that point, his right hand was cut off, in punishment of the crime of theft; he was then strangled before being put to the fire. His burnt body was recovered from the ashes and taken to the Three Towers in the city, there 'to be exposed to the view of all the world.'

John Jacobs's sacrilegious theft and subsequent execution brought much public attention to the English Dominican nuns. Soon, benefactors abounded to help with the fashioning of a new monstrance; once complete, this was carried to the great church of St Gudule where it received the Blessed Sacrament. From there, 'all the Orders met together' and in a great procession of religious men and women, it was carried back to the Dominican nuns' church. Throughout the entire procession, the nuns sang the Te Deum, the Cannons sang Tantum Ergo, and music was played with drums and trumpets and 'Commers (wich resound as loud as Cannons). The church bell rang freely to welcome the return of the Blessed Sacrament. For such an exceptional occasion, convent and city were brought together in a common celebration; the great procession was the first of its kind in that street, which 'was hung with Tapestrie & devout Picturs from the street' all the way to the church doors; the church itself was 'richly adorn'd, and severall new things made for the Alter express for this Solemnity.' Later, the Pope granted a plenary indulgence for all the faithful who would come to the church on Easter Monday, where the Sacrament would be exposed all day. Those indulgences were to be renewed for seven years, thereby ensuring great public affluence on those days for the little English convent of Dominican nuns in exile.

For more details on the English Dominican nuns of the second Order at Brussels, see The Prioress and community of Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight (ed.), 'Records of the Dominican nuns of the second order', Catholic Record Society, Dominicana, vol. 25 (1925), pp.176-241.

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The monstrance, the thief and the Dominican nuns of Brussels

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Stories from the archives of the English convents in exile The English Dominican nuns of the second Order were founded by Cardinal Philip Howard at Vilvorde (near Brussel) in 1661; in 1669, they...

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Rue du Champ de l'Alouette, Paris, France

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Convent of our Blessed Lady of Good Hope, Paris Benedictines

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Convent of our Blessed Lady of Good Hope, Paris Benedictines

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From WWTN:

Founded in November 1651-February 1652 from Cambrai. The nuns moved five times before settling at Rue du Champ de l'Alouette, Paris, in the suburb of St Marcelle in April 1664. Initially under regulation by the English Benedictine Congregation, they desired to submit to the authority of the Archbishop of Paris (Cardinal de Retz). Agreement was finally reached in 1657 whereby they came under the authority of the archbishop while retaining Benedictine Spiritual Directors and Confessors. The monks of Port Royal supported the English nuns, although this did lead to some difficulties for them by association when the monks were linked to Jansenist beliefs. After the initial building no modifications were done to the convent until 1767 when a new infirmary and lodgings for the Confessor were built.

In 1793 the revolutionary officers took away the registers and books in the pulpit and the nuns were only able to bring to England a register which had been made just before the revolution. The last death recorded was April 1792: the register has been found to be correct. On 16 July 1794 they were moved to the castle at Vincennes as prisoners on a diet of bread and water. They remained there until in November they were allowed to join the Augustinian Canonesses in their convent. Finally, in March 1795 they left Paris, and arrived in London in July that year. From there they moved to Marnhull, Dorset, moving several times before settling in Colwich, Staffs.

See also:

J. T. Rhodes, 'English Roots and French Connections: The English Benedictine Nuns in Paris', British Catholic History 31 (2013): 535-547.

Hansom, Joseph S. (ed.), ‘The English Benedictines of the Convent of Our Blessed Lady of Good Hope in Paris, Now St. Benedict’s Priory, Colwich, Staffordshire’, in Miscellanea VII, Catholic Record Society, vol. 9 (London, 1911), pp. 334–431 https://issuu.com/tcrs/docs/volume9

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From WWTN:

Founded by a group of four nuns (three American and one English) together with their Confessor Charles Neale in 1790 in response to growing demand for an English convent in America. They arrived at Port Tobacco and acquired enough land to support them growing tobacco. The death of Charles Neale hampered their efforts and in 1831 they decided to move to the growing city of Baltimore and open a school. Their descendants still live near Baltimore.

See:

https://www.carmelofporttobacco.com/community/our-history

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English Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre [Sepulchrines], Liege 

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English Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre [Sepulchrines], Liege 

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From WWTN and Personal comms with Hannah Thomas: The convent at Liège was founded in October 1642 by Susan Hawley out of the Flemish convent at Tongres, remaining there until driven out by the impact of the revolutionary wars.

Initially established in the small parish of St Hubert, it quickly moved to a larger plot in the more gentrified suburbs of the parish of Saint-Servain. However, the building of a nearby barracks on Rue Pierreuse in 1655 made the location of the convent unsuitable so the Community was forced to relocate to a former Coquin Brothers monastery in theparish of Saint-Christophe [on Rue Saint Gilles] where they remained until 1794.

The nuns left Liège in the summer of 1794, travelling to England via Maastricht as a party of 75. Staying temporarily in London, they moved first to Home Hall in Yorkshire, and after two years to Dean House near Salisbury, Wiltshire. Early in 1798 they moved to their final destination New Hall, near Chelmsford in Essex where they remained until 2005.

See also:

https://emen.hypotheses.org/1090

Image reference:

Hannah Thomas, The Secret Cemetery: A Guide to the Burial Ground of the English Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre in the parishes of Boreham and Springfield, Chelmsford (Leominster: Gracewing, 2017), p.9

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From WWTN:

Founded in 1619 by Mary Roper, Lady Lovel. A number of offshoots were founded from Antwerp which had English members from time to time but they were not primarily English houses. These include Bois-le-Duc (1624), Bruges (1625), Cologne (1630), Alost (1631, suppressed 1783), and Dusseldorf.

Lierre (1648) and Hoogstraten (1678) were founded from Antwerp as English convents.

Driven out of their convent June 1794, they returned to England via Rotterdam. After a short time in London they were offered accommodation at Lanherne, Cornwall by Lord Arundel.

Image Reference: https://emen.hypotheses.org/anne-worsley-carmelite-at-antwerp

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English Franciscans (Brussels 1621, Nieuport 1637 and finally Bruges from 1662)

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English Franciscans (Brussels 1621, Nieuport 1637 and finally Bruges from 1662)

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From WWTN:

The convent formally opened in Brussels in August 1621. In 1637 ‘on account of the dearness of provisions, and the smallness of the enclosure’, they moved to Nieuport in Flanders. However, they suffered a number of health problems and decided to move again: this time to Princenhof in Bruges in December 1662 where they remained until 1794. Concerns over security led the nuns to return to England. They lived first in Winchester and then in 1808 found a permanent home at Taunton.

One off-shoot was established: in 1658 a group of nuns left Nieuport to establish a new convent in Paris. This eventually became a Conceptionist house, known familiarly as the ‘Blue Nuns’.

Image: East View of the Princenhoff Tower, from the original watercolour at the Franciscan convent in Taunton. See CRS Vol 24: English Franciscan Nuns. 1619-1821 https://issuu.com/tcrs/docs/volume24

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From WWTN:

Convent of Jesus-Mary-Joseph; 24 rue de Joyeuse, Rouen. Founded as a daughter house from Gravelines in 1644 because of over-crowding in the mother house. They received a number of English refugees as guests after the Titus Oates plot and further influxes after Jacobite events in the eighteenth century. The revolutionary soldiers started their actions against the convent on 30 March 1793 and finally on 2 October that year the revolutionaries entered the convent and the following day the nuns were told they had to treat the convent as a prison. Other expatriate Englishwomen were brought to join them and on 6 February 1794 the chapel was filled with beds for prisoners and the nuns were turned out of their premises. They were set at liberty on 16 January 1795 and finally decided to leave for England: the first group left on 1 July 1795. After a brief stay in London they moved to Haggerston Castle in Northumberland. In 1807 the community moved to Scorton Hall, near Catterick, Yorkshire.

See vestments in the Bowes Collection here: https://thebowesmuseum.org.uk/collections/poor-clares/

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Vestments gifted to the Museum by a silent order of Nuns.

This order of English nuns based in Rouen, France, ran a school for English Catholic girls from 1614-1793. They were evicted from France following the French Revolution and fled back to England where they eventually settled at St Clare's Abbey, Darlington. They were skilled needlewomen and made vestments out of the court dresses and wedding dresses donated by grateful Catholic aristocratic families. They brought back some of these items with them to England, and these are now part of the Museum collection. They also include boxes of 18 th century silk and embroidery fragments, which still retain their silver and gold sheen.

Our curators had an interesting time documenting the collection and its history as they were restricted to specific times when this silent order of nuns could communicate.

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Vestments gifted to the Museum by a silent order of Nuns.

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Chemin du Clos des Anglaises, Pontoise, France

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From WWTN:

Founded first in 1652 from Ghent by Mary Knatchbull. The early years in difficult conditions in Boulogne led the Abbess Christina Forster to seek permission to move to Pontoise. They secured agreement and moved in May 1658. Although they received recruits (some of whom were of royal blood - the image here is the memorial to Barbara Fitzroy prof. 2 April 1691, and claimed by her mother Barbara Palmer/Villiers to be the illegitimate daughter of Charles II) their expenses were considerable; for instance they assisted the foundation of a convent in Dublin during the reign of James II. By 1723 the convent was reduced to twenty choir sisters, mostly aged and infirm. The obtained some assistance from Louis XIV but their debts were increasing and the buildings needed extensive costly repairs at a time when little money was coming from England. By the end there was an annual deficit of £10,000, the convent was suppressed in April 1786 and their property sold at auction. The remaining nuns were dispersed with six joining the Dunkirk foundation.

The convent site is currently being excavated and restored, see this video on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQgpNmJXA_I&t=115s

The project has a facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/convent.of.english.benedictines.pontoise

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Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris, France

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From WWTN:

Known as the convent of Bethlehem. They first came to Paris in 1658; a group of nuns from the third order of St Francis [from the English Franciscans] They gained permission to remain (confirmed in May 1670) because of their good reputation. They settled first in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques but after two years moved to a Convent situated in rue de Charenton in the Faubourg St Antoine. Their convent was seized on 14 Oct 1793 and in November 1794 they were transferred to the English Augustinian convent as prisoners. The nuns were released in 1795 and allowed to return to their convent. 3 nuns returned to England. From 1795-9 the convent remained in the hands of the nuns. Their property was sold by the Directory on 9 Oct 1799. The remnant of the community (6) returned to England January 1800, staying first in London with Lady Jerningham until moving to Cossey, Norfolk, finally settling in Norwich in July 1800. Although they opened a small school, they were not able to attract new recruits to the convent, numbers fell and by 1806 the remaining nuns dispersed.

See the CRS Volume on the Diary of the Blue Nuns here (the image used to illustrate this location is facing p.129) https://issuu.com/tcrs/docs/volume8

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From WWTN: Known as the convent of Nazareth. Founded in 1609 by Mary Ward who wanted to establish a house for English Poor Clares; however she did not remain with them. Numbers grew substantially leading to a series of offshoots: the first Dunkirk convent in 1625: Aire in 1629 and finally Rouen in 1644. Gravelines suffered a series of traumatic events. In 1658 when war broke out between France and Spain, Gravelines underwent a siege of 69 days. Plague invaded Gravelines 1666, but there were no victims at convent. The National Assembly did not initially require the English convents to close, but in October 1793 they took action. On 12 October they seized the property of the convent and five days later brought the English Benedictines and the Poor Clares from Dunkirk to Gravelines and kept them together as it were in prison for a period of 18 months. Even after gaining their liberty the nuns decided that life was too difficult to remain in Gravelines and they would move to England. They reached London on 3 May 1795. On their arrival in England, Lady Mary Elizabeth Nugen, duchess of Buckingham invited them to Gosfield Park, near Halstead in Essex. After much debate in 1814 they reclaimed their convent in Gravelines. It was initially successful, but with declining numbers they gave it to the Ursulines in 1838 and returned to England.

The building was destroyed in c.1905 to make way for Rue Pasteur - see images here:

https://histopale.net/les-archives/gravelines/la-place/

and here : https://www.calameo.com/read/000888572f972528bb734

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Banque Nationale de Belgique, Boulevard de Berlaimont, Brussels, Belgium

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English Benedictines: Monastery of the Glorious Assumption, Brussels

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English Benedictines: Monastery of the Glorious Assumption, Brussels

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WWTN: Known as the Monastery of the Glorious Assumption. Founded by Lady Mary Percy in 1597/8; it was the first of the new foundations specifically for English women. The convent quickly attracted members, but a bitter dispute over the choice of confessor affected recruitment for two decades in the early seventeenth-century. Once a resolution was reached the convent began to flourish again, remaining in Brussels until forced to withdraw by the effects of the revolutionary wars in 1794. They arrived in Winchester in 1794 and remained there until they transferred to East Bergholt, Suffolk.

The site: Mary Percy bought the estate of Sir Roland Late Longins, Viscount Bergues for f.10500. It was in 'Hietgatts' which was close to the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula, known as St Gudula's. The monastery ruins were finally demolished in 1871 to make way for the building of the Banque Nationale de Belgique. [From Dr Roberta Anderson]

It is site number 50 marked on this 1640 map of Martin De Tailly. NB Site 46 is the Couvent des Dames du Barlaymont, next door to the English cloister, and this is where the Appellants were removed to when they expelled by force during Holy Week in 1632.

https://uurl.kbr.be/1044570

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Judo Club Dunkerquois, Rue de la Porte d'Eau, Dunkirk, France

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Engraving English Benedictine Convent at Dunkirk, in Teignmouth Abbey Community, History of the Benedictine nuns of Dunkirk (London: Oates,1954), p.87. 

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From WWTN:

The English Benedictine Convent in Dunkirk was founded 1662 as daughter house from Ghent. When Pontoise closed in 1786 six of the remaining nuns and many manuscripts went to Dunkirk. In 1793 the convent church was used for meeting of the Jacobin Club, Dunkirk. On 13 Oct 1793 the nuns were turned out of the convent and their property was sequestered. They were sent to the Poor Clares in Dunkirk for a few days and then to the Poor Clares at Gravelines. The three communities were imprisoned together. Two of the Benedictines died in prison. In 1795 they were given permission to leave and arrived in London 3 May 1795. They stayed in Hammersmith, living in the house formerly occupied by the Mary Ward sisters until 1863 when they moved to the convent they had built for them in Teignmouth, Devon.

Three quarters of the city of Dunkirk was destroyed as a consequence of the second world war. The town was replanned and rebuilt after 1945. The historic location of the English Benedictines in Dunkirk is an approximation based on this late C17 map (now held at the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g5700m.gct00127a/?sp=25&r=0.357,0.139,0.951,0.41,0)

The location here is based on a best guess due to the survival of the Catholic church St Eloi, and the indication of the location of the White Sisters based on the presevation of the street name Rue des Soeiurs Blanches along the road from the English Benedictines.

Image cited in Caroline Lesemann-Elliott, Music, Power, and Place at Exiled English Convents in France and the Low Countries, 1660-1740 (Unpublished PhD Thesis, Royal Holloway, 2022). My thanks to Caroline for our conversations about the location of Dunkirk.

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Ypres Benedictines (English from 1665-1682; Irish from 1682)

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Ypres Benedictines (English from 1665-1682; Irish from 1682)

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From WWTN: Known as the monastery of Gratia Dei. Founded in 1665 by Mary Knatchbull from the Ghent community initially as an English house, it was unable to attract enough recruits to make it viable and was made into an Irish convent in 1682. It attracted Irish members steadily. At the request of King James II the nuns moved to Dublin in 1688. However, they returned to Ypres following James’s defeat at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The community finally left Ypres after the Abbey was destroyed in 1914 and moved to Kylemore, Ireland where they remain.

When in Ypres they were on Rue S Jacques. See a short history here: https://cushwa.nd.edu/news/the-irish-dames/

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Image from E.H. Fricx, Plan de La Ville de Citadelle De Gand (1708) Convent is marked '31', St Peter's Abbey ('5) on the left

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English Benedictines: Abbey of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady, Ghent

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English Benedictines: Abbey of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady, Ghent

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From WWTN Known as the Abbey of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady. The convent was founded in 1624 by a small group of nuns from the Brussels convent who supported the choice of a Jesuit confessor over the choice of their abbess, Mary Percy at Brussels who had opposed it. Further daughter houses were founded from Ghent at Boulogne in 1652 (moving to Pontoise in 1658); Dunkirk in 1662 and Ypres in 1665. The community left Flanders at the approach of the revolutionary army, and settled first at Preston in Lancashire. They moved to Caverswall Castle in Staffordshire in 1811 and finally to Oulton, Staffs.

Convent would have been on the site where the University of Ghent is today (St Peter's still stands)

Convent is located on this map of Ghent: https://militarymaps.rct.uk/war-of-the-spanish-succession-1701-14/ghent-1708-plan-de-la-ville-et-citadelle-de

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From WWTN:

Established in 1623 under the authority of the English Benedictine Congregation, the foundation was initially linked to the Brussels convent. In December 1623 nine postulants were clothed at Cambrai. The chief benefactor of the foundation was the father of Gertrude More, one of the nine. Paris was a daughter house of Cambrai. The convent and their documents were seized suddenly in October 1793 leaving the nuns time to save only a few items. They reached England May 1795 joining monks of the English Benedictine Congregation at Woolton, Lancs. In 1807 they were offered a house at Abbots Salford, Warwicks. where they lived until they moved to Stanbrook Abbey, Worcs. in 1838.

Maps of Cambrai: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Map_of_Cambrai_1710.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Cambrai_-_Cameracvm_vulgo_Cambray_-_Kamerijk_%28Atlas_van_Loon%29.jpg

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Inspection de l'Éducation Nationale Dunkerque Centre, Rue Nationale, Dunkirk, France

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Convent of Bethlehem, English Poor Clares, Dunkirk

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Convent of Bethlehem, English Poor Clares, Dunkirk

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From WWTN:

Convent of Bethlehem. Founded originally 1625 by four Irish sisters and Eleanor Dillon as Abbess. The convent was unable to receive novices but it was intended to open a school there: the four Irish sisters left to establish new convents in Ireland in 1629. The main foundation dates from 1652. During the 1658 war between France and Spain: Dunkirk was occupied as a result of the Battle of the Dunes and liberated by the English (26 Jun). They left the town to stay with the English Benedictines at Ghent, but no sooner had they left Dunkirk, but they were invited to return. They remained in Dunkirk until 1793 when they were imprisoned with the Poor Clares at Gravelines for 18 months and like them took the decision to move to England.

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Three quarters of the city of Dunkirk was destroyed as a consequence of the second world war. The town was replanned and rebuilt after 1945. The historic location of the English Benedictines in Dunkirk is an approximation based on this late C17 map (now held at the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g5700m.gct00127a/?sp=25&r=0.357,0.139,0.951,0.41,0)

The location here (1) is based on a best guess due to the survival of the Catholic church St Eloi, and the indication of the location of the English Poor Clares not far south west of the cathedral.

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Karel Boomstraat 1, Hoogstraten, Belgium

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From WWTN:

Dedicated to Our Lady from Sichem. Founded in 1678 from Antwerp. Between 1701 and 1712 the community retreated to Mechelen because of the unsettled times. In 1790 under the leadership of their confessor Charles Neale, three nuns left Hoogstraten (with 1 from Antwerp) to establish a convent in Maryland at Port Tobacco: now residing near Baltimore.

In the face of the threats from revolutionary soldiers in 1794 the remaining nuns left Hoogstraten to return to England and in December settled at Canford, Dorset, where their benefactor was Sir John Webb. In Sept 1825 the community moved to Torigny Normandy and after five years hardship 1830 they moved again this time to Valognes, Normandy while remaining an English convent. They returned to Chichester in 1870 having received a legacy which enabled them to build appropriate buildings.

Location on the map in the image is Nonne Klooster.

Translated from the Dutch wikipedia page for the Karmelietessenklooster (Hoogstraten).

It was through the actions of the English merchant William Evans and Rhine Countess Maria Gabriëla de Lalaing that an English monastery was established in Hoogstraten. At the beginning of 1676, a large civilian house, so-called "De Griffioen", was purchased on the north side of K. Boomstraat to house the new monastery. Some adjacent houses were purchased and renovated. The monastery started on August 18, 1678 with the name "Domus B. Teresiae a Jesu". After the initial period, the countess's daughter, Maria Theresia, entered the monastery on October 15, 1679. In 1696 she became prioress. She died on February 6, 1715.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karmelietessenklooster_(Hoogstraten)

In 1796 their possessions were seized and sold in 1798. The former monastery was successively inhabited by various French families, used as a gendarmerie, slaughterhouse and hospital, rented out to the needy, and so on until it was purchased in 1853 by Frans Van Bergen who kept the inn "Het Keizershof" open there. In 1921 it was purchased by the Vakschool.

On Wednesday, August 23, 1995, the Torenijzer burned down for the first time after roofing work. On Friday, March 31, 2017, the building burned down completely for a second time.

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From WWTN:

Founded in 1648 from Antwerp. The community built new premises at the beginning of the eighteenth century where they remained until driven out in July 1794. They rented property from Sir John Lawson of Brough at St Helen’s, Auckland, co. Durham until 1804 when they moved to Cocken Hall, co. Durham and finally to Darlington where they remained until 2010.

From an Archaeological Report on Lierre's Sint-Gummarusstraat.

The English Theresians established themselves in Lier in 1648. In 1680, through a bequest, they acquired an extensive property on Kerkstraat, where they erected a monastery complex. They occupied it in 1709 and remained there until 1794. The monastery was sold and subdivided in 1798.

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École Primaire Catholique Sacré-Cœur, Rue de Saint-Omer, Aire-sur-la-Lys, France

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Convent of the Immaculate Conception, Poor Clares, Aire

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Convent of the Immaculate Conception, Poor Clares, Aire

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From WWTN:

Convent of the Immaculate Conception: Founded on the day of Pentecost in 1629 from Gravelines according to the introduction to the MS Aire Profession Book...

In spite of the threats to their existence, the community remained in Aire until September 1799 when with the help of James Peter Coghlan they managed to retain many of their books and manuscripts and travel to England.

It is clear the nuns are near the Grand Place from the historic map, but their location on the site of the Ecole Sacre-Coeur as this is listed as being run by the Soeurs de l'infant Jesus, and they bought the site in 1963 thttps://www.academia.edu/40951175/Les_ordres_religieux_%C3%A0_Aire_sur_la_Lys

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%93urs_de_l%27Enfant_J%C3%A9sus_%E2%80%93_Providence_de_Rouen