Holy Trinity Monastery, East Hendred was briefly a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

of contemplative

Benedictine nuns , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

situated in the

Vale of White Horse The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. It was historically a north-west projection of Berkshire. The area is commonly referred to as the 'Vale of ''the'' White Horse'. It is crossed by the Ridgeway Nat ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, from 2004 to 2012, forming part of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth is a Latin Church Roman Catholic diocese that covers the Channel Islands as well as parts of England (Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and parts of Berkshire, Dorset and Oxfordshire). The episcopal see is St ...

. In late May 2012 the community of two relocated to Howton Grove,

Wormbridge Wormbridge is a village and former civil parish in Herefordshire, England, about eight miles south-west of Hereford, on the A465 road at (). The neighbouring villages are Kilpeck, Didley, Howton, Treville, Ewyas Harold, Pontrilas and Crize ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, where it became part of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff ( la, Archidioecesis Cardiffensis; cy, Archesgobaeth Caerdydd) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church which covers the south-east portion of Wales and the county of Herefordshire in ...

. The community retained its dedication to the Most Holy

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

but, following Benedictine custom, it also became known by the name of the locality to which it had moved, and therefore called Howton Grove Priory.

History

Sanctioned in 2004 by Bishop

Crispian Hollis Roger Francis Crispian Hollis (born 17 November 1936, in Bristol) is the Bishop Emeritus of Portsmouth for the Roman Catholic Church. Early life Crispian Hollis' parents were Christopher Hollis (1902–1977), the author and parliamentarian, an ...

, it was the first breakaway convent of

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

s to have been established in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for more than half a century. The members were originally nuns of

Stanbrook Abbey Stanbrook Abbey is a Catholic contemplative Benedictine women's monastery with the status of an abbey, located at Wass, North Yorkshire, England. The community was founded in 1625 at Cambrai in Flanders (then part of the Spanish Netherlands, ...

, Worcester, who left without permission, but the community became an autonomous convent of diocesan right with monastic rather than papal enclosure rights.

Charitable works

The two nuns maintained themselves and their charitable undertakings by their work, principally book and

web development Web development is the work involved in developing a website for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web applications ...

. They made audio books for the

blind Blind may refer to: * The state of blindness, being unable to see * A window blind, a covering for a window Blind may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Blind'' (2007 film), a Dutch drama by Tamar van den Dop * ''Blind' ...

and visually impaired and provided a postal library lending service. Their monastery web site was well known for its innovative use of new media and was an important element in the community's spiritual outreach. In 2009 it won the Premier Christian Media People's Choice Award. The monastery library had important collections of modern American and High Anglican theology and was open to students and others by appointment.

Location

The nuns' first home was Stanbrook Abbey in Worcestershire and after their breakaway it was the presbytery, or priest's house, at

East Hendred East Hendred is a village and civil parish about east of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse and a similar distance west of Didcot. The village is on East Hendred Brook, which flows from the Berkshire Downs to join the River Thames at Sut ...

. They then bought a barn conversion on the edge of the

Golden Valley, Herefordshire The Golden Valley is the name given to the valley of the River Dore in western Herefordshire, England. The valley is a picturesque area of gently rolling countryside. It lies in the lee of the Black Mountains, Wales. The main villages are Dor ...

References

External links

Holy Trinity Monastery official web site

Holy Trinity Monastery Mobile web site

iBenedictines: Holy Trinity Monastery official blog
{{coord, 51.59343, -1.336053, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title 21st-century establishments in England 2012 disestablishments in England Benedictine nunneries in England Monasteries in Herefordshire Christian organizations established in 2004 Vale of White Horse