Community of All Hallows
The Community of All Hallows (CAH) is an Anglican religious order based in Ditchingham, near Bungay, Suffolk, under the jurisdiction of the Church of England. The religious Sisters lead an active life of prayer and service, providing hospitality and spiritual direction in two retreat houses. Meanwhile there seems to be a benign commitment by the tiny remnant of this once flourishing Community to allow the original conventual buildings to sink into irreparable oblivion, mirrored in the community's loss of mission and discouragement of their until recent folk veneration in the local community (pace the many reprieves after NHS threats of closure of Ditchingham Hospital). The Emmaus project could easily be housed in ancillary buildings of no architectural merit allowing the original convent proper to flourish as an education in the community project or sold as a viable school or study centre. Even flats or a hotel would be better use of the exceptional ensemble of mellow brick convent buildings which should be listed and loved again. This would free the once beautiful very Anglican convent to take on new life. The Emmaus project is a glorified overpriced series of depressing charity shop rejects. One retreat house is situated in the Convent grounds at Ditchingham and the other house is in Norwich, adjacent to the Shrine of Julian of Norwich.
Foundation
The Community was founded by Lavinia Crosse in 1855. Lavinia was the daughter of the famous surgeon, John Green Crosse.
References
- Anglican Religious Communities Yearbook: 2004-2005. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2003.