Eco nuns begin life in new home

By Carole Green
BBC York & North Yorkshire

Abbess Mother Andrea arrives at the new monastery on the North York Moors

A community of Benedictine nuns from Stanbrook Abbey have moved into a brand new, eco-monastery on the North York moors.

The decision to move was prompted by the difficulties the nuns faced in maintaining their abbey in Worcestershire.

Their new home has been purpose-built at a cost of £4 million.

The site was chosen because of its "beauty, peace and quiet".

The community of nuns who have moved into their new home at Wass, near Helmsley on the North Yorkshire have a long history.

Following the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII a group of young women, accompanied by a monk, fled England for the continent, hoping to find the religious life they wanted.

The great-grandaughter of Sir Thomas More was one of the group of young women and it was ultimately money from her family which gave them the financial security they needed.

She became the chief founder of the Benedictine nuns and the foundation flourished. In 1795 they were able to return to England and moved into their home at Stanbrook Abbey in 1838.

The modern community of around 25 nuns have taken the difficult decision to move from their grand and Gothic, but expensive to maintain, home at Stanbrook Abbey into a brand new purpose built eco-monastery on the North York Moors.

The nuns have brought many of their precious possessions with them

The new monastery includes solar panelling, rainwater harvesting, a sedum roof and locally sourced wood for their new woodchip boiler.

The Nuns are the first monastic community to relocate to North Yorkshire since the Reformation.

The Mother Abbess, Sister Andrea, said that although it was sad to leave Stanbrook the move was an essential one, and they were looking forward to settling into their new life in North Yorkshire.

They had to decide how much of their five tonnes of ecclesiastical furniture and library of 33,000 books to take with them. The nuns held their own version of a 'car boot sale' to sell some of the hundreds of items they couldn't take with them.

They have also brought back to North Yorkshire a unique collection of original early 20th century furniture, crafted specially for Worcester Abbey, by the original Kilburn "Mouseman" himself, Robert Thompson.