03 Oct 2017

Last week we enjoyed the penultimate event of our 2017 Downside Lectures series, the Cloistered Life conference.

The fascinating talks were from Professor Eddie Jones (University of Exeter) Syon Abbey 1415-2015: a history in 6 abbesses, Dr Carmen Mangion (University of London) By Women and For Women; Changing Structures of Enclosed Religious Life, 1950-1970 and Dr Caroline Bowden (Queen Mary University of London) The English Convents in Exile and West Country Connections, 1600-1800.

Following the talks, guests enjoyed a tour of the Downside Archives, where a display of materials from our female religious collections had been displayed, including:

• Vows of Lady Mary Percy, 1613, foundress of Haslemere.
• Segment of the original Chronicle from the Haslemere Collection 1611 – 1757
• Lady Scholastica of Talacre’s Watercolour Flower Book
• Chronicle of Talacre Abbey 1913 – 1920
• Priory Chronicle from the Holme Eden Collection

Thank you to all the speakers and guests who joined us for the event. The next in our lecture series is Scholar Monks, focussing on some of the foremost Downside Scholar Monks since the arrival of the community of St Gregory in Somerset in 1814. To book, click here.