Convent book is best, Bar nun

Sister Gregory, a sister of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM), has written a book about its English members, covering a period from 1667 to 2000.

The IBVM set up a convent on the Bar Convent's Blossom street site in 1686, and the current building went up in 1767.

But it also has schools and convents elsewhere and Sister Gregory's covers people from all the English ones, listing each individual by name with a short biography of her life.

The individuals include the first Mother Superior at the Bar Convent, Frances Bedingfield, as well as families, such as the Murphy sisters, one of whom was headmistress of the Bar Convent School and one of whom was Mother Superior.

The stories also cover the years when the Bar Convent was bombed during the Second World War and five nuns were killed.

One fact that Sister Gregory discovered was that from 1862 until 1874, the Convent owned the Bay Horse pub further down Blossom Street.

"I don't think a nun ever set foot in there, though," she said.

Sister Gregory arrived at the Bar Convent in 1985 and helped set up its museum and found most of her information in the convent's archives.

She said: "I did a lot of research first and actually writing the book only took about six months."

The book, called A Biographical Dictionary of the English Members of the Institute 1667 2000, is published by the Catholic Records Society and will be available from the Bar Convent shop.

* Meanwhile the Bar Convent is in line for another tourism award this time for its bed and breakfast service.

The bed and breakfast team is one of 60 short-listed organisations in The Daily Telegraph/Energis Customer Service Awards and is one of four short-listed in the Travel, Leisure and Tourism category. The winners will be announced on November 21 in London.

Last week, the convent was named the best conference venue in the York Tourism Awards.

Updated: 08:38 Friday, November 16, 2001