Poor Clares

Vestments gifted to the Museum by a silent order of Nuns.

This order of English nuns based in Rouen, France, ran a school for English Catholic girls from 1614-1793.  They were evicted from France following the French Revolution and fled back to England where they eventually settled at St Clare’s Abbey, Darlington. They were skilled needlewomen and made vestments out of the court dresses and wedding dresses donated by grateful Catholic aristocratic families. They brought back some of these items with them to England, and these are now part of the Museum collection.  They also include boxes of 18^th century silk and embroidery fragments, which still retain their silver and gold sheen.

Our curators had an interesting time documenting the collection and its history as they were restricted to specific times when this silent order of nuns could communicate.