DOM JOSEPH COOMBE-TENNANT TALK

21 Oct 2021

It was a great pleasure to welcome historian and author Bernard Lewis to Downside this week as he gave a talk on the life of Downside monk Dom Joseph Coombe-Tennant.

Dom Joseph led an incredible life, which is now the subject of a book, Wales’ Unknown Hero: Soldier, Spy, Monk, available to buy through our online shop. The talk by Bernard showcased this life through photographs and detailed Dom Joseph’s extraordinary childhood, his time in the army during the Second World War, as an escaped POW, his work as an SOE operative and with MI6 and finally his time as a monk at Downside. We wont give too much away in case you want to read the fascinating book! 

In case you missed the talk you can watch it back on our YouTube channel here. The next talk in our series of lectures, More Than a Memorial, will be on Zoom and booking details can be found on our events page. This event, taking place on Thursday 11th November at 1pm, will explore some of the lives behind the names on the Downside abbey Great War memorial.