Nunssell off their world ly possessions

August 1995

The statue of the Virgin Mary which has lived in Wexford’s Loreto Convent for most of its life upped and moved this week...alogn with a large collection of other religious objects like brass crucifixes, hymn stands, and altar chairs.

They were helped on the way by estate agent Ray Corish, who held an auction of the contents of the convent at the request of the Loreto sisters, who are moving from the big draughty building in Spawell Road to a brand new six-bedroomed house in Newtown Road.

Convent auctions are always a big draw, and this one was no exception. An advertisement in The Irish Times brought dealers from Dublin and further afield, a move which proved frustrating for local second-hand merchants.

Anyone wishing to start their own religion could have acquired most of the necessary accoutrements at the Loreto auction. An later measuring 77 inches by 30 inches by 39 inches high would have set you back £40; a brass crucifix on a long pole, £35; an 8 ft. pine church pew, £100; a wood and chrome hymn stand, £30; an altar chair, £30; a brass lectern, £90; and a 2 ft. oak priedieux, £45.

More than 200 lots went under the hammer, ranging in variety and quality from an iron bed to six Victorian mahogany balloon back dining chairs (£1,100) and everything in between, including an Edwardian captain’s chair (£200), five Capuchin annuals (£10), a long Victorian mahogany table with two leaves (£1,700), an oak roll-top desk (£700), and a grandfather clock in shaped mahogany (£1,000).

There was one intriguing lot which gave rise to impure thoughts about the leisure time of the sisters who lived in the convent – a snooker table with two cues, a box of snooker and pool balls, and a marker.

This and the sale of three old cigarette cases conjured up visions (almost certainly untrue!) of the nuns packing their uniformed students off home after school and secretly settling down to an evening of snooker sharkdom and nicotine inhalation.

Former students of the Loreto seemed to be in short supply at the auction, especially when it came to the sale of Loreto annuals from 1955 to 1969. The auctioneer’s request for bids initially fell on deaf ears, but 11 annuals eventually went for £5, while three others went for £1.

The old convent, which is now empty of all its worldly possessions, is to be converted as an extension to the order’s secondary school at Spawell Road.