St
Helen's Nunnery
see
also St Helen's Church
After
the dissolution of the monasteries, St Helen's nunnery passed
through several private hands before ending up in the ownership
of the Leatherseller's Company for the purpose of the 'occasional
meeting and the settling of their accounts'. By the late eighteenth
century the nunnery was in a state of some ruin and the buildings
were demolished in order to create St Helen's Place (apparently
'numberless skulls' were dug up from under the cloister of the
nunnery during demolition - they caused great comment at the
time as without exception all the skulls' teeth were white and
sound).
Robert
Wilkinson, who drew these pictures, commented that the nunnery
buildings were quite eerie, an unusual sight in bustling London
- "a romantic fragment of antiquity" - and an almost
rural scene which one would normally expect to see many miles
from London itself.
Wilkinson
gave a list of the buildings of the nunnery: there was ain infirmary,
the nun's dormitory, the cloister, a kitchen with numerous larders,
pastry houses, store houses etc., a hall (or refectory, pictured
below), the convent parlour, ,a sub-prior's lodging with a small
garden, and a half-acre convent garden, with dovecote, kitchen
garden and wood yard.
The
crypt of the nunnery of St Helen, Bishopsgate Street, from
the north, showing the two chapels at the south end. The upper
part of the engraving shows the beautiful ceiling of the fine
apartment over the crypt which was the nun's refectory and
then was for many years used by the Leather sellers' Company
as their dining hall. The crypt and above apartment was demolished
in 1799.
Another
view of the crypt, minus the apartment above, and showing
some detailing of the stone work.
