Grade II-listed Yorkshire retreat near Whitby is sold by order of nuns despite 'frustrated' charity's plea to let them buy it

The Sisters of the Holy Paraclete have owned St Oswald’s House since a landowner bequeathed the former coach-house and stables to the nuns in her will.

In 2020, the sisters went into partnership with the Scargill Movement, a Christian charity that already ran retreats in the Yorkshire Dales, to manage the residential guest offering at the pastoral centre, which includes a number of cottages as well as the main building and gardens.

However, the Scargill Movement’s staff have now been forced to leave the Esk Valley after the order decided to sell the property on the open market.

Their decision was reported by The Yorkshire Post last month, but estate agents Boulton Cooper have now confirmed the site’s sale to a buyer whose identity is unknown, and the Scargill trustees who ran St Oswald’s Community have revealed that the nuns, most of whom are elderly, declined to give the charity the chance to buy the property themselves to retain its use as a retreat.

There are local fears that the complex is ideal for conversion into a holiday resort, and Boulton Cooper marketed it as suitable for ‘alternative uses’.

Valued at £1.15million, it is within the North York Moors National Park and includes a chapel, three Grade II-listed cottages, two self-catering properties, outbuildings, gardens and grounds in a 15-acre plot. Overall there are 26 bedrooms.

The sisters ran the retreats themselves after Lady Armatrude de Grimston’s death in 1982. She had lived in the old coach-house, once part of the Woodlands estate, since 1960.

Phil Stone, chair of the Scargill trustees, said in a statement: "It is with great sadness that we have to announce that St Oswald’s is now in the process of being sold, which consequently means that the ministry here will have to close. There has been a surprising amount of interest in the property and we are aware that multiple offers were made.

"We have been greatly encouraged by the generous pledges and suggestions that many supporters have made in order to help us raise the money to buy St Oswald’s ourselves, but unfortunately we were not in a position to make an offer.

"We had recently met a potential buyer who had the means and desire to save St Oswald’s, but time was against us. We asked the Sisters for the process to be paused so that we could thoroughly explore this option without other offers being considered, but sadly this request was not granted. This now means we find ourselves in the heart-breaking place of facing the imminent yet untimely closure of St Oswald’s.

"There is much that has bewildered us over the past few months and we truly believe it could have been possible to have found a win-win solution that would have resulted in both communities thriving. We are devastated that this has not been the outcome.

"The agents have made it clear that they want to move as quickly as possible with the sale and so the trustees and Community made the difficult decision to close at the end of November so that we can begin the daunting task of dismantling the ministry as well as the painful process of packing up our homes.

"There are few words to make sense of what has happened here in the last few months – in particular the imminent closure of St. Oswald’s – a place that has been a refuge for many for decades. As a community we have felt frustrated, sad and bewildered. We have asked endless questions, searched diligently for solutions in between simply getting on with the work in hand."

It is not the first time the order has sold off assets from its large estate near Sleights, which the sisters relocated to in 1915. Five years ago they disposed of Grade II-listed Sneaton Castle, which they had formerly run as a girls’ boarding school, and St Hilda’s Priory, the nuns’ living quarters.

A local farming family bought the castle and turned it into a wedding venue, while modern accommodation was built for the nuns.

Members of the order have declined to speak to the media about the sale of St Oswald's House.