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Any information please on the history of the convent at Arnos Court
Brislington which was called The Church Of The Good Shepherd and was an
asylum for about 120 young women. Where did the convent move to in Henbury? |
| As it
happens I live close by the site of Arnos Court in Brislington, Bristol UK.
The buildings are now converted into a hotel and nightclub offering
entertainment to the youth of today. You may find the following extract of interest drawn from 'The Diocese of Clifton 18502000' ‹ a celebratory history of events and personalities ‹ © Clifton Catholic Diocesan Trustees 1999 ISBN 0 9536689 0 8 Arnos Court: Good Shepherd Convent 1851-1948 The convent was founded in July 1851 and only two months later received a visit from Cardinal Wiseman. 'The Good Shepherd Sisters had arrived in England from their Mother Homes in Angers, France in May 1841 and opened a convent and Home for Women in Hammersmith, London. The Bristol property at Arnos Court was purchased for the sisters by William Austin Gillow who, having visited the Hammersmith convent and seen the good work done for women who had been brought from a life on the streets, 'desired earnestly that a similar house be set up in Bristol for the same purpose'. Gillow was a member of an old Lancashire Catholic family who married Miss Agnes Markland of Pemberton Villa, Clifton Park, in 1851. Included in the gift was the land which is now the Cemetery of the Holy Souls. At first a room in the house was used as a chapel, but in May 1858 the foundation of the present building was laid, and the completed building was dedicated by Bishop Clifford in March 1859. By that time the sisters had spent large sums in the erection of' buildings, including a laundry. Bishop Clifford took a great interest in the chapel, to which he was a generous benefactor, his gifts including a chalice given to him by Pope Pius IX, and the four marble pillars, still to be seen in the present day restaurant, which divided the sanctuary from the sisters' choir. The first apostolic work established in Arnos Court was the traditional one of the sisters, a Voluntary Home for older teenagers and women who had personal and social problems. Their ages could range from seventeen to forty years. Later, in 1856, another apostolate was started. In view of the great need in England for a home for Catholic girl ex-prisoners, the ecclesiastical authorities asked the Provincial Superior of the Good Shepherd Sisters to consider undertaking the direction of a Reformatory School instead of the Voluntary Home in Bristol. At this time child offenders as young as nine years of age were being sent to prison to serve time in hard labour followed by a specified time in Reformatory Schools. Since there was no such provision for Catholic girls they were being sent to non-Catholic establishments. After due consideration, and because the number of' women seeking places in the Voluntary Home had decreased, it was agreed that this new apostolic work for girls be undertaken. The Certificate of Registration for Arnos Court as a Reformatory School for Catholic girls up to the age of sixteen was accorded by the Home Office on 22 April 1856. Thus was Arnos Court Reformatory School, known as St. Joseph's School, established and it was to continue uninterrupted under the direction of the Good Shepherd Sisters through the statutory changes of name, and changes of location (Eagle House, Bathford, and Ashwicke Hall, near Chippenham) from that day until November 1986. The two separately run apostolates flourished for many years. During the wartime blitzes on Bristol in 1940 and 1941 the property suffered so severely that it was estimated that more than two-thirds had been destroyed. The Home Office insisted that the School be evacuated to a safer area. After much search Eagle House, Bathford was found and accepted by the Home Office as being suitable. On 3 March 1941 two sisters left Arnos Court with twenty of the girls for their new temporary home. Three days later they were joined by four more sisters, seven auxiliaries and the remaining sixty girls. By this time the name Reformatory School had give way to that of Approved School. Eagle House is a lovely Georgian residence suitable for a family of eight or ten to live in some style. Now it was being called upon to accommodate six sisters, seven auxiliaries and eighty girls. However, it was seen as welcome after months of living and sleeping in underground shelters. Bishop Lee offered the first Mass there on 7 March and then consecrated the house to the Sacred Heart. There followed a very difficult period of adjustment during which a Horne Office Inspector allowed the registered number, as a concession to the cramped accommodation, to be reduced from eighty to seventy-two. After a very severe bombardment on the night of l0 September 1943 the sisters decided to sell Arnos Court and look for another property. It was a sad decision as the house had been established in the lifetime of the Foundress, St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier. (see Batheaston). Hill End House: Henbury, Bristol 1948‹ I976 This property on the outskirts of Bristol received three sisters and a few girls in September 1946. When the necessary alterations had been completed the rest of the community and girls joined them on 28 October 1948. This date also marked the closure, after ninety-seven years, of the original Bristol foundation at Arnos Court. Later a second apostolate, for unmarried mothers was initiated in Henbury in the newly acquired Severn House. It became known as St. Raphael's Mother and Baby Home. This work continued until November 1976 when it was closed and the sisters withdrew. Peter Harrison cephas.quovadis@blueyonder.co.uk |