Following in the footsteps of Mary Ward (by car) gave me a quirky day out in Yorkshire.
First stop, of course, was the Bar Convent in York, the oldest surviving Catholic convent in England, founded by Mary Ward sisters in 1686 on a site just outside Micklegate Bar (and conveniently close to the railway station today).
The permanent exhibition about Mary Ward is a perfect way to start the day, the perfect follow-up, after visiting the ‘hidden’ Catholic chapel, is a coffee in the Bar Convent’s well-stocked café.
My nest stop was St Thomas’s Church in Osbaldwick on the outskirts of York, to see Mary Ward’s enormous and astonishingly well preserved tombstone, with its enigmatic inscription (see page 189 in the book 😊). It stands inside the church (that’s why I went to see it now rather than in the evening when the church might be closed). It’s well worth seeing, and heart-warming to see how this Anglican church cherishes its role in preserving the memory to a Catholic heroine.
I then headed west, My next stopping-point was the Guy Fawkes Inn in Scotton, off the B6165 west of Knaresborough. Guy Fawkes lived in the village as a lad, and this is a reminder that Mary Ward was related to most of the Gunpowder Plotters.
From Scotton it’s only a short distance west to Ripley, where Ripley Castle was the residence of the Inglebys (or Ingilbys), more Catholic relatives of Mary Ward. You can take a walk in the gardens and there are guided tours of the house.
And for the last stop on my tour I drove west again over the beautiful Nidderdale hills to Summerbridge, were I turned left off the main road, crossed the River Nidd and parked the car in Dacre Banks. I then treated myself to a glorious walk on a broad track to Harewell House, where Mary Ward spent some of her childhood and turned down her first proposal of marriage.
It was getting on by now, so I ended my perfect day out in Pateley Bridge. No special connection with Mary Ward, but great pubs and England’s oldest sweet shop were reason enough.
Sydney Thorne 