The Bar Convent, Blossom Street
29 April 1942 · York, North Yorkshire
View this record on the map →- Date
- 29 April 1942
- Record type
- Historic bombing site
- Bomb type
- HE
- Casualties
- 5
- Location
- York, North Yorkshire
- Position accuracy
- Confirmed site, building-level
What happened
A high-explosive bomb struck the Bar Convent, the oldest surviving convent in England, and brought down the corner of the building onto the sleeping quarters below. Five women died: two nuns, Mother Mary Agnes and Mother Mary Vincent, and three of the convent's firewatchers, Mary Ann O'Connor, Margaret Murphy and Jane McClorry.
Casualty note
Five named individuals recorded at this address in the Raids Over York casualty register, matching History of York's account.
Also worth knowing
The five were buried in the convent's own cemetery. The chapel, hidden behind a domestic frontage since 1769 because Catholic worship had been illegal when it was built, survived.
Photographs
Photographs of the Baedeker raid
Raids Over York has a large photographic record of this night. The images belong to the York Press, Explore York, the National Railway Museum and private collectors — not to us, and not to the project either — so this links to them rather than copying them.