By CANON TOM DAKIN

After the Norman Conquest the map of England, as regards ownership of land, was completely re-drawn. William established a new landed hierarchy. Lancaster was given to a relative, Roger of Poitou, who entrusted the Priory to the Benedictines of St. Martin's at Seez in Normandy. War with France cut this link and the Priory was put into the care of the Brigettines of Sion, Middlesex, brought into England by Henry II. They were responsible and generous. What you see now, abstracting from the porch and the tower, is the result of rebuilding by the Brigettines in the middle of the l5th century.

The Brigettines of Sion were suppressed in 1539. They found a home first in Antwerp then at Termonde, Flanders. Having returned in 1557, during Mary's reign, they were allowed by Elizabeth to leave with the retiring Spanish Ambassador. Those were troubled times. Spain was at war with the Netherlands. They passed from Termonde, Antwerp, Mechlin, to settle in Rouen, but some younger ones, because of physical threat by Calvinists, had returned to England in 1578. One of these young women, Elizabeth Sander, was staying with a family in Hampshire when it was distributing copies of Campion's Challenge. The house was raided and in Elizabeth's room a chalice and missal were found. She was locked up in the Bridewell at Winchester, convicted as a recusant to be fined £20 monthly for non-attendance at church. When the amount due rose to £120 she was sentenced to imprisonment for life. Security was lax at the Bridewell and Elizabeth walked out to hear Mass in a house about half a mile away. Re-arrested she was imprisoned in Winchester Castle. With the connivance of the Governor's wife she escaped by climbing down a rope. There is some mystery about the reason for her being found a second time in Winchester Castle but she contrived again to escape, less dramatically this time. Arrested yet again by pursuivants, she managed to avoid prison by bribing them. With the help of friends she secured a passport under the alias of Elizabeth Neale and got to Rouen after nine years separation from the community, six of them having been passed in prison.

Life was hard in Rouen. Cardinal Alien in a letter to Fr Agazzari, rector of the English College in Rome, writes that "the worthy nuns of Rouen are in want". Rouen was twice under siege during the war between dynasties in France and the nuns transferred round the coast to Lisbon in Portugal, 1594. In 1755 an earthquake reduced Lisbon to ruins. For months the nuns lived in a shelter in the garden. They managed to re-establish themselves until the Peninsula War caused half the community to return to England. A small nucleus remained until driven out by the liberal Portuguese government in 1861. They have had a number of homes in England and are presently settled at Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire and at Maryvale, Birmingham, being able to demonstrate unbroken continuity with Henry II's foundation at Sion. One would hope that whenever a notable anniversary is being celebrated at Lancaster Priory the Bridgettines might be invited.

This concludes Canon Dakin's absorbing series. We hope to have him back in the Autumn for a new series. In the meantime, secondary schools that wish to take part in our competition based on this series, should get in touch with The Voice, before Easter. ED.