19 Sep 2017

A recent discovery in the archives of a scrapbook of watercolours flowers has led to the publication of a series of cards.

The images are taken from a book of hand painted flowers preserved in the Haslemere Collection at Downside Abbey. The ‘Flowers from Nature’ are by Elizabeth Mary Anne Cookman of Kiltrea, County Wexford and were finished in ‘The Sixtieth Anniversary of H. M. Queen Victoria’s Reign, 1897’. The book was presented by Fr S. R. Vaz, to Dame Christina Dale, a nun of the Monastery of the Glorious Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, founded in Brussels in 1597. The order, by then settled at Frensham Hall, Haslemere, was closed in 1975 and the archive passed to Downside Abbey.

We have turned these beautiful paintings into notecards. Left blank inside for your own message, the cards can be used for many different occasions. They are available to purchase here online or in the Downside Abbey Visitor Centre.