The Convent

Ref: HLBP1/023

The Convent and adjacent King’s Chapel is situated towards the southern end of Main Street on the grounds of an old Franciscan church and monastery dating back to around 1471. A guard mount takes place at the main entrance a few days a week conducted by soldiers of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment. The Changing of the Guard is also conducted outside the Convent a few times a year. The Convent has been used as a residence for the Governor since 1704 and became the official residence of the Governor of Gibraltar in 1728.

The chapel has been used on a tri-service basis by the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force since 1900. Roman Catholics also use the chapel for regular services which is open to the public on a daily basis. The chapel is dedicated to the saints St. Francis and St. Bernard.

The Convent and Chapel were heavily rebuilt during the 18th and 19th centuries after having suffered extensive damage as a result of the Great Siege. Today the property encompasses the cloister, chapel, yard and gardens which extend as far as Convent Ramp.

The Governor’s residence was originally a convent of Franciscan friars which was built in 1531 to the north of the site of a much older, but less imposing monastic building erected in 1471 where the present garden now stands. Francesco Gonzaga, Bishop of Cefalù, Pavia and Mantua refers to the former monastery in his book published in 1587 writing that:¹

‘The monastery of St. Francis, Gibraltar, Convent XII. It is situated in the suburbs of its very ancient city; known in Spanish as Gibraltar, although it was known as Calpe in Roman times, and comes under the jurisdiction of the Bishopric of Cadiz. It is said that the setting up of the Monastery of the Blessed Francis was brought about, around the year of the Redemption of the world in 1471, through the charitable donations of the public citizens, having been built by the Conventual friars. However, in the year of our Lord of 1529, the aforementioned, of their own free will, passed the monastery on to the Observant Order. And, thus, was this last monastery, set up in the province of Baetica, converted from the Conventual to the Observant Order.’

Manolo Galliano states that Gibraltar was sold by its lord, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, to the Conversos of Cordoba in 1474, so it is probable that these first friars were only invited to set up a monastery in Gibraltar after the expulsion of the Conversos in 1476 and not in 1471 as claimed by Francesco Gonzaga.²

George Palao does not date the erection of the first monastery but states that in 1480 the Franciscans built a lovely chapel where the relics of St. Darmian and Sta. Dorothea were venerated into what is now the side entrance.³

Alonso Hernandez del Portillo, however, places the date of the foundation of the monastery to at least the year 1490 ‘because it was originally the home of cloistered Fathers, and the reforms instituted by the Catholic Monarchs began in 1492: and it is clear it must have been founded before that year because the Cloistered Fathers would not have been granted a license to found a Monastery after the reforms were instituted…’⁴

The friars had been granted a considerable plot of land in the less inhabited part of the city, in an area of cultivated land known as the Huerta de Ceberos, at the south end of La Turba where the poorer people of Gibraltar lived. Originally, this piece of land stretched all the way from the present Convent to el Baluarte de Nuestra Señora del Rosario (South Bastion).

Portillo wrote that originally “these friars had their monastery, which was the very first of this Order which existed in the diocese of Cadiz, in what is now part of the market garden, and was then known as St. Francis the Old.”⁵ These rudimentary buildings would have stood on the grounds of the present Convent garden, south of the much larger monastery that was subsequently built in 1531. The cloistered friars were expelled from the convent before 1512 according to the reforms decreed to abolish the abuses of the cloistered orders, whose style of living and dress were often more worldly than was respectable. After that date the Franciscans in Spain became an open order.⁶ This means that the actual cloister and church would have been erected by the more strict Observant Order of Franciscans were unaffected by their reforms.

1567 Gibraltar Anton Van Den Wyngaerde showing Franciscan Convent (D)

Extent of the boundary of the Church, Cloister and Huerto de Ceberos – 1627 Luis Bravo map

George Palao's Old Churches showing his artistic impression of the original Franciscan Church.

Manolo Galliano describes the Church as follows:

“The monastery Church was built on a cruciform plan, with its principal door at the western end; the stone piers on either side of which were sculptured with carved climbing ivy and the traditional Franciscan triple knotted cords. The doorway opened out onto a spacious courtyard with a large gateway which led to a side lane to the north; in the centre of the courtyard stood a large cross and the entrance to the actual monastery was to the south of the Church, which had an arched doorway flanked by fluted columns in the Doric order together with Renaissance style roundels on its upper sides, reminiscent of the doorway of the Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Rosario [situated at the extreme-end of the walled city, adjacent to Southport Gate]. This doorway was the original entrance to a separate family chapel, forming part of and annexed to the Franciscan Church….”⁷

Ignacio Lopez de Ayala quoting Portillo’s former work describes how the present church and cloister was funded and for who this separate family chapel was built for:

“In 1528, the monastery of San Francisco was restored and rebuilt; and in March 1531 Francisco de Madrid, Secretary of the Town Council, presented to the occupants a large plot of ground for erecting a new Church, a spacious Cloister, with ground in front of the Church, and 70,000 maravedies in money; together with a considerable quantity of stone already prepared for the building; the Religious occupiers binding themselves to erect a Chapel and Burial Place for their benefactor and his descendants…”⁸

Further alterations and extensions were undertaken between 1530 and 1560 until the whole of the King’s Chapel and cloister was completed.

The new Church and Cloister was still under construction when on the 10th September 1540, Turkish pirates under the command of Caramani and Ali Amete attacked the city. Pedro Barrantes Maldonado reported this terrifying experience as follows:⁹

“The Turks, as has been said, had already reached the city, and spreading themselves through it, they entered through the principal street from the direction of the suburb (south) and began sacking the street all the way up to the Monastery of St. Francis, where the friars hearing the noise, fled to the Barcina district, with the Turks looting the monastery.”

Following this rampaging attack, the Baluarte de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, protecting the tail end of La Turba was significantly strengthened. However, it was not until 1554 that the Emperor, Charles V sent a Milanese engineer, Giovanni Battista Calvi, to design adequate fortifications, including the southern wall, just beyond the extent of the Franciscan lands (Huerta de Ceberos). These works were completed in 1557.

The date of 1560 by the entrance of King’s Chapel probably refers to the major repairs and new bell tower built after the pirate raid of 1540.

The 1627 Luis Bravo map clearly shows the finished church and cloister and the demarcation of the monastery garden extended west to the Line Wall and from there south all the way to Charles V Wall.

Very little is known of Gibraltar as a place of Christian pilgrimage but a number of pilgrim routes both by land and by sea existed, even before Gibraltar’s capture by Spanish forces in 1462.¹⁰ A few clues remain as to the importance of Gibraltar as a centre of pilgrimage, for example the Chapel bears scallop shells in the east transept which is one of the accessories associated with pilgrims. Presenting such scallop shells was often used as proof of pilgrimage as well as the practical use of the shells to scoop up water for drinking from rivers or wells.

King's Chapel interior showing the scallops, the traditional emblem of pilgrimage.

After the capture of Gibraltar by an Anglo-Dutch fleet in the name of the Archduke Charles, the five Franciscan friars that resided in the Convent did not follow the exodus of the Spanish population and remained in Gibraltar, at least for some years (their presence was recorded in 1712).

Nevertheless, when a 600 strong Battalion of Coldstream Guards arrived to reinforce the besieged garrison on the 8th December 1704 (Julian Calendar) the monastery became the mess of the junior officers of the battalion and the Church began to be used for Protestant worship. The Guards’ orders for the 26th May 1705, read:¹¹

“The Sacrament will be administered to morrow. The Church is to be for the future at the great Cloyster where the Subalterns of the Guards lye.”

When the Guards left for Barcelona with the fleet in July 1705 they were relieved by Colonel Roger Elliott’s recently raised Regiment of Foot, who made the Convent his quarters.¹² On 24 December 1707, Elliott was appointed Governor of Gibraltar and when he handed over the Governorship to Brigadier-General Thomas Stanwix in June 1711, he too took up lodgings at the Convent. It was Stanwix who was responsible for moving the friars and their possessions to the Church of La Vera Cruz (191 Main Street where Mother Care now stands) and turned the Church of St. Francis into King’s Chapel.¹³

Diagram of the Chapel showing original dimensions and later work.

The building was heavily rebuilt during the 18th and 19th centuries in the Georgian style with Victorian elements. It was Colonel William Hargrave (Governor of Gibraltar 1740-1749), who ordered the west part of the chapel be cut in half and rebuilt in order to accommodate the Supper Room. He used the material removed from the Convent to build storehouses in Casemates Square.¹⁴ The 1753 Montresor map, however, still shows the Church before it was truncated. From this point onwards, the entrance to the King’s Chapel was now directly through the Convent itself.

The convent gardens include trees planted by Royalty such as King Edward VII; the German Emperor Wilhelm II; Prince Hirohito, Crown Prince of Japan; and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. During Boyd’s time, the gardens still had no enclosure walls and became what the Alameda Gardens would become much later – a place for social gatherings. A visitor in 1772 noted:

“The governor’s garden is open to the public, and is much resorted to on Sunday evenings.”

On the 15th September 1779, Elliot ordered the “pavements of the streets be ploughed up…. Steeples, towers, and all objects that might serve for marks be pulled down.”¹⁵ As a result the arch and the upper part of the upper part of the chapel was taken down in the general removal of all conspicuous artillery targets.

During the Great Siege, King’s Chapel was used as a store for ‘dry goods’ whilst religious services were sometimes held in the Cloister. The Governor’s suite of offices and the Supper Room was further reinforced to make them bombproof.¹⁶ The Convent suffered heavy damage during the siege but Elliot repaired the damage whenever possible. As a result, the building had to undergo extensive repairs in the years following the siege. The south transept and 61 feet of the heavily damaged nave were excluded when the repairs were carried out. Garrison orders records that the Chapel was reopened for Divine Service in 1788.

Drinkwater wrote that the new dining tables, made out of cedar wood, and other pieces of mahogany were salvaged from the wrecks of the floating batteries.¹⁷ The holes and burn marks of the panels on the doors are still evident to this day.

The King’s Chapel was also repaired and became the Garrison Chapel resplendent the colours of several British regiments. Beneath the colours can be found a number of sepulchres within the walls and floors of the Chapel dating back to the Spanish period. Amongst the most notable are the remains of the wife of the Spanish governor dated to 1648 and two British governors: General Charles O'Hara and Lieutenant-General Colin Campbell, who were laid to rest in 1802 and 1814, respectively.

When HRH the Duke of Kent arrived as Governor in 1802, the Convent was still in a state of disrepair and so he took up residence at what is now the Duke of Kent House instead. He proposed a very substantial reconstruction of the Convent but was recalled before the expenditure could be approved. His successor, Lt. General Sir Thomas Trigge proposed a more modest estimate of around £8,000 but even on this amount he expressed serious doubts as to its urgency. He did however propose a new gallery ‘to communicate with the rooms’ at a cost of £300.

A further modification was carried out by Governor Don in 1814 when concerned with worshippers entering the Chapel through the main entrance ordered a small house to the immediate left of the main entrance be pulled down and a new entrance into the north transept be built instead.¹⁸ Further repairs to the Convent proved particularly expensive and accounted for half the sum expended in public works in the colony of Gibraltar.¹⁹ For example, the present dining room was reconstructed in 1864 and cost over £4,000. The room contains an array of Coats of Arms, flags, mottoes and paintings dating back to 1704. Some of the panels are emblazoned with the arms of Moorish Caliphs, Spanish and British Monarchs dating as far back as 711.

In 1833 the Chapel was closed upon completion of the new Garrison Church (Holy Trinity Cathedral) which was met with vigorous protests in Gibraltar. The congregation were told that they would have to pay a pew rent sufficient to maintain a military chaplain at a cost of five shillings a day.²⁰ They were apparently unwilling to do so, however, services resumed between 1843 and 1844 when the chapel was restored by the Royal Engineers at a cost of £340 3s 3¾d to serve as an auxiliary place of worship for Gibraltar's civilian population. So many military personnel were now using the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity that there was little room left for the civilians.²¹ The Assistant Military Secretary at the time summarised the situation in a letter of 8th March 1844:²²

"When the Governor assumed the government, he found the Convent Chapel in a neglected, dark, unwholesome state and a sephulchral nuisance to the residence ... [T]he Bishop and Archdeacon stated to the Governor that the Protestant community at large experienced great inconvenience from the Cathedral being so filled by the military that insufficient space was left for the civilian congregation. The Governor therefore applied for and obtained permission to restore the Chapel as an auxiliary or Chapel of Ease to the Cathedral, and not, as heretofore, the sole place of worship for the Garrison."

Old entrance to the Convent in the 1850’s.

Convent façade pre-1860's.

In 1877 the east window was added and the chancel was altered. In 1887 an organ, built by Bevington & Sons, Soho, was controversially installed in the north-west corner of the chapel, contrary to the wishes of the chaplains, who had wanted it installed in the opposite corner but were overruled by the Governor, Sir John Adye.²³ The following year, it was discovered that the roof needed urgent repairs and responsibility for the chapel was transferred to the War Office so that the repairs could proceed.²⁴

Following further repairs in 1924 some of the memorial stones were removed from the floor and placed on the walls instead. The memorial scheme was launched in 1948 to commemorate the British Regiments and Corps that had served and capture of the Fortress between 1704 and 1783.

The Governor’s residence was also heavily restored during this period. The ballroom on the first floor was built in 1839.

In 1863/64 Lieutenant General Sir William Codrington KCB ordered the Banqueting Hall rebuilt at a cost of £4,000 which was not completed until the following year.²⁵ He drew up plans for the façade overlooking Main Street to be totally changed from the back door entrance it had originally been to a newer, much more attractive front entrance which was considered more dignified as an entrance to the residence of the Governor. The façade of the Convent is similar in design to the Police Station in Irish Town also built during the tenure of Sir William Codrington as Governor. The main staircase by the entrance probably belongs to this major renovation.

View of The Convent following renovations.Colonel Crealock's portico had not yet been built.

The subsequent beautification of the exterior of the Convent with the present red-brick Gothic façade and the stone portico was carried out in 1867 and 1869 when further reconstruction work took place at a cost of about £2,000 each.²⁶ The exterior façade was designed by Colonel Henry Hope Crealock, an accomplished draughtsman and Lord Napier’s Military Secretary at a cost of around £4,000.²⁷ The Napier wing built on the south side of the yard was built in 1879 at slightly under £4,000. It provided four bedrooms on the ground floor and a billiard room and two more bedrooms on the floor above.²⁸ The wing was designed by the civil engineer, Captain Buckle, RE.

Post card showing red-brick fa├ºade of the exterior of the Convent following works carried out in 1867.

Early 20th Century post card showing red-brick façade of the exterior of the Convent following works carried out in 1867.

In 1908 on request of King Edward VII the name of the Convent was changed to Government House but when King George VI visited in 1943 he asked for the old name to be reinstated.²⁹ Similarly, the King’s Chapel which had been renamed the Queen’s Chapel (after Queen Victoria) was also restored by decree from Queen Elizabeth when she acceded the throne in 1952. It had also been briefly proposed in 1944 that the King’s Chapel should be renamed as "The Garrison Church of St. Francis" but this name never caught on.³⁰

On the 17th April 1951, a huge explosion aboard the RAV Bedenham caused some houses and public buildings to receive structural damage. Among the worst affected was the Convent and Chapel, where the roof of the dining room collapsed and the ballroom was in a mess. The wall between the Convent and King’s Chapel also collapsed as a result. The King's Chapel suffered the destruction of its nave ceiling and all of its stained glass. The individually hand-made plaster rosette decorations on the nave ceiling proved too costly to reproduce and were replaced with simpler mould-casted replicas instead. The chapel's restoration saw the creation of new stained glass windows that were installed in 1952. The window in the north transept depicts King George VI, while that in the east wall shows Christ in glory surrounded by the Archangels Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel and Michael. The crucifixion is depicted below, with the Virgin Mary and Saint Bernard, Gibraltar's patron saint, on either side. Other panels in the window depict worshippers from the British Armed Forces, members of the Franciscan Order, the capture of Gibraltar in 1704, Saint George, the Royal Arms and the crest of the British Army.³¹

During the 1969-1985 blockade of the border, the Governor, Sir Varyl Begg as Admiral of the Fleet transferred the upkeep of the Convent to the Admiralty vote in order to support the local Government financially. The cost of maintenance was transferred back to the Gibraltar Government in 1992, but remains partially funded by the F&CO. The chapel bell was returned in 1995.

Ground plan of the Convent residence, Chapel and grounds.

Features of unique historical value

The convent includes a series of 16th century Franciscan frescoes in the refectory depicting detailed religious iconography dating back to a period when the Franciscan order was trying to spread the Catholic faith. These frescoes had been whitewashed by the British soon after the monastery had been appropriated in 1712. Some of these damaged mural paintings dating back to the mid-16th Century include; the image of a bishop with a crozier and mitre with the words ‘S.LVIS’, identified as St. Luis of Toulouse; a bearded friar with the words ‘MARVECOS’ below it, almost certainly that of the martyred St. Bernard of Morocco; another image shows the truncated image of a friar holding an open book with the last letters to his name ‘…NIO’, identified as St. Anthony of Padua; another friar with a halo, identified as St. Francis of Assisi by the name ‘S.FRA..ISCO’; a Christogram, which is a monogram with the letters IHS with another name ‘BERN…N’ probably attributed to St. Bernardo of Siena to its right and the letters ‘ELD’ on the left. Unfortunately, other mural paintings discovered in 2004 where plastered over, including that of a tonsured friar sitting at his desk with a book set up in front of him, holding a quill pen.³² Manolo Galliano states that it is possible that other images, wholly or in part, might still be in existence under the more recent plasterwork, waiting for their re-discovery centuries after they were painted.³³

Damaged 16th Century mural painting of a Christogram showing the words IHS. The words BERN…N can be clearly seen on the left and the words ‘ELD’ on the right.

Two more recent murals, painted by Lt. John Marshman, is located in the Cloister Patio. The story behind the painting of these murals is retold by Dorothy Ellicott in her book an Ornament to the Alameda: ‘...a young officer of the 28th (now the Gloucestershire) Regiment, by the name of Marsham, occupied his leisure by adorning the walls of the Main Guard with a series of little pictures, described as being ‘clever, amusing sketches’. Apparently, Lady Airey was so impressed when she saw his sketches that she commissioned the artist to execute the large mural paintings all around the patio at the Convent’ (Lord Airey was Governor in Gibraltar between 1865 and 1870).³⁴ The two mural paintings painted by Lt. Marshman depict the Great Sortie from Gibraltar – 26th November 1781 and the Storming of Badajoz on the 11th March 1811.

Detail from one of the Marshman murals in the Convent depicting 83rd-storming-Badajoz.

Detail from one of the Marshman murals in the Convent depicting activities on the night of the Great Sortie, 1781.

Also in the cloister patio is a wooden statue of Sir George Augustus Eliott, Governor of Gibraltar during the famous Great Siege of Gibraltar. It was carved in 1815 from wood taken from the Spanish ship San Juan Nepomuceno, flagship of Commodore Damian Churraca, captured at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The ship was renamed HMS Berwick and served as a base hulk, prison ship and as a flagship before being decommissioned on the 8th January 1816.³⁵ The statue originally stood within the rotunda of the newly opened botanical gardens until 1858 when a bronze bust of General Eliott, above a marble pillar replaced it and the wooden carved statue was taken to the convent where it remains to this day.³⁶

Two Gothic pillars have also survived and was described by David Devenish, Curator of the Gibraltar Museum as follows:³⁷

‘…the lower parts of the two Gothic pillars survive in what is now the garage in the back of the convent. They bear on the outer faces a vine scroll, on the inner carved representations of the Franciscan knot. The original entrance to the church lay between these two pillars.’

According to Bond, the dining room at the Convent has the most extensive display of heraldry in the Commonwealth of Nations.³⁸ However according to Tito Benady, some of the coats of arms are fanciful, for where the correct one was not known they were dreamt up by Colonel Crealock, who designed the room.³⁹

The dining tables leading to the Dining rooms made of cedar wood were made, according to Drinkwater from the wrecks of the floating batteries destroyed in the Grand Attack of the 13th September 1782.⁴⁰ Today these timbers form the panels of the end doors in the dining room, and the repaired holes and burn marks can still be seen.⁴¹ Also hanging around the room are portraits of many prominent figures during the Great Siege which were probably meant as sketches for the famous Copley painting of Eliott, surrounded by his staff, watching the Grand Attack from a mound in the Red Sands.⁴²

There are also portraits of Admiral Rooke and Prince George of Hesse D’Armstadt, as well as some former Governors – Lt. General Humphrey Bland (1749-54), General Sir George Eliott (1776-90), Lt. General Sir William Codrington (1859-65), and Field Marshall Lord Napier of Magdala (1876-82).⁴³

The last working keys of the Fortress following from those of The Great Siege are in a glass case, replicas of which are the ceremonials and placed in front of him at all official dinners.

The Convent dining room and heraldic display and carved statute of Eliott

Convent Room dining hall.

Wooden statue of Sir George Augustus Eliott, originally at the Alameda, now in the Cloitser patio.

The King’s Chapel also contain a number of memorials some of them dating back to the early 17th Century including the 1684 memorial dedicated to Doña María Ana de Moya Arnedo y Cueva, wife of the Spanish Governor of Gibraltar complete with coat of arms. Two British governors: General Charles O'Hara and Lieutenant-General Colin Campbell were also laid to rest in here in 1802 and 1814, respectively. Another particular memorial is dedicated to Lt. Frederick Henry Solly Flood RN, who died at Gibraltar on the 23rd February 1862 aged 28. He was the son of Frederick Solly Flood, the Attorney General of Gibraltar who was also Advocate-General and Proctor for the Queen in Her Office of Admiralty. Flood would achieve notoriety a decade later during the proceedings related to the salvage rights of the derelict vessel Marie Celeste in 1872 when he accused the crew of the Dei Gracia who found the stricken vessel of piracy, claiming they had killed her original crew. The hysteria of the mystery of the Marie Celeste was thus amplified by Flood’s conspiracy theories which were subsequently debunked in court.

A number of Regimental colours with their battle honours are displayed above the memorials.

Military memorials and flags inside King's Chapel, Gibraltar (left) and memorial to Lt. Frederick Henry Solly Flood (right).

King's Chapel memorials and Regimental Colours (above) and memorial to Lt. Frederick Henry Solly Flood RN (right).

The Convent garden contains a dragon tree reported to be over 500 years old and possibly dated to the 1470-1480 when the first blocks of the monastery were being laid meaning that both the dragon tree and the Convent are contemporary. Kenyon however exaggerated the age somewhat claiming that:

‘In the convent garden is a Dragon tree (Dracoena Draco) believed to be over 1,000 years old. The Prince of Monaco (an expert naturalist) when visiting Gibraltar during the Governorship of Sir Robert Biddulph (1893-1900) informed him that it is the oldest known tree of its species in the world . . .’⁴⁴

However, a more recent plaque on the Dragon Tree asserts that:

‘This Dragon Tree was planted shortly after the species was discovered in the Canary Islands in 1484. It is the oldest living specimen in the mainland of Europe.’

Among some of the other trees in the Convent Gardens are those planted by Edward VII, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Queen Elizabeth II.

Dragon Tree in the garden at Government House (Convent) and attached plaque.

Dragon Tree (left) and plaque (above).

Another curious addition to the garden is an old carob tree reputed to be over 200 years old and five marble statues that were previously placed on the roof of Arengo’s magnificent mansion. These statues were saved from destruction when the former building was demolished and were removed to the Governor’s garden. The five statues are those of the Roman dieties Ceres, Athena, Laetitia, Bacchus and Faunus.

Two of the four statues found at the Convent garden, formerly from ArengoΓÇÖs Palace fa├ºade (right).

Two of the four statues found at the Convent garden, formerly from Arengo’s Palace façade (right).

The convent is allegedly haunted by the ghost of a nun, Alitea more commonly known as the "Lady in Grey". According to the legend, Alitea was only 14 when she fell in love with another boy, Silvano, but her family disapproved. Instead, Alitea taken against her will by her brother Humberto was taken to a nun’s convent in Gibraltar (some sources say the convent of Santa Clara in Main Street others the hermitage de Santa Anna at Cloister Building) and forced to become a nun. Silvano, however, followed her to Gibraltar becoming a Franciscan monk at the Convent where he knew the Sisters would come every Sunday to hear mass at the Convent Chapel. They hatched a plan to escape together by means of a rowing boat that would take them to Algeciras but on that fateful night, the lovers were discovered just as they were about to board the vessel. In the ensuing struggle, it is said Silvano fell into the water and drowned. Alitea meanwhile was taken back to the Franciscan monastery where she was sentenced to death by being buried alive behind a wall in the chapel.

It is said that poor Alitea often roams the corridor outside one of the guest rooms and over the years there have been innumerable sightings of the "Grey Lady", by staff and residents alike. Including Lady Anderson, wife of the Governor General Kenneth Anderson who, together with her two grandchildren, professed to have seen the ghost soon after World War II ended. The Governor’s ADC also put it on record that many others had claimed to have seen the ghost. The story of the Lady in Grey was not new, Major Richard Hort had, over a century earlier, written a short tale called The Lost Nun which he included in his book The Rock, published in 1839. ⁴⁵