'I have no desire to go anywhere': Inside the enclosed community of Tyburn nuns in Cork

Officially known as the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre, the nuns form part of a cloistered Benedictine contemplative order dedicated to perpetual Eucharistic adoration

Mother Esther, Mother Carmen, Mother Miriam Joseph, Mother Joan, Mother John Baptist, and Mother John at Cobh Tyburn Convent in Admirality House which was built in the mid-1880’s, then damaged in a fire in 1923 and restored in 1928. It is now part of the St Benedict’s Priory at Cobh, Co Cork. The building currently needs extensive repairs, including re-rendering of exterior walls to stop water entering the building. Picture: Larry Cummins

Completely detached from the outside world, she is a woman who only ever leaves her home for dental and medical appointments.

That’s because for Mother Miriam Joseph — and the five others who make up the enclosed community of Tyburn nuns at St Benedict’s Priory in Cobh — isolation is a way of life.