The Secret Shoe…

When builders began tearing apart the roof on parts of the Bar Convent a few months ago, to carry out much-needed remedial work, they found something that surprised and puzzled them. Advertisements

Learning their craft…

The Bar Convent regularly hosts students at various stages of their education, from school pupils on work experience to those working towards a PhD. Matthew Roland and Joanna Meredith, MA students on the Cultural Heritage Management programme at University of York, recently did a 2 week work placement in the Archives.

A Valentine Tale…

On Valentine’s Day, here’s a tale to warm your heart. A story of love under pressure, with the Bar Convent playing a key role.

On a Mission

The Community at the Bar Convent, the CJ, has a tradition of working outside the walls of institutions and within communities that stretches back to the 17th Century. Recently, Sister Theo Hawksley spent several months in Guyana in South America, working with local people. Here she explains a little about her role and asks for […]

Mary Ward In The Archives

It’s Mary Ward Week at The Bar Convent – with her birthday on the 23rd and the anniversary of her death on the 30th. But just who was she and what connection does she have to the convent? Our second post for the Week focuses on our Special Collections here in York, particularly the library […]

The Most Significant Woman You’ve Never Heard Of…

It’s Mary Ward Week at The Bar Convent – with her birthday on the 23rd and the anniversary of her death on the 30th. But just who was she and what connection does she have to the convent?

#lovearchives

The Bar Convent has been taking part in Explore Your Archive launch week, a national campaign that illuminates the best of archive services in the UK and Ireland. Participants share items from their collections on social media that relate to different themes, with the aim of showcasing the huge range of material available in archives […]

Remember, remember…

The BBC TV drama Gunpowder has stirred up a lot of interest in – and a fair bit of controversy around – the true story of the 1605 plot to blow up the Protestant King James I during the State Opening of Parliament. It got off to a gory start, with depictions of a woman […]

Rediscovering a Treasure Trove

The Bar Convent’s historic archives have been given a new lease of life with the arrival of Dr Hannah Thomas, our recently appointed Special Collections Manager. Dr Thomas, who joins us from Durham University, has the task of overseeing not just the impressive archives but the convent’s research library too. She’s been busy cataloguing the […]

A Day in the Life of a Sister

The Bar Convent is home to members of the Congregation of Jesus (CJ), a religious order that was founded by the hugely progressive Yorkshire woman Mary Ward in the 17th Century. A lot of people are curious about the sisters’ way of life, so we asked Sr Ann Stafford to describe a typical day. In […]