History A Short History of The CloistersThe Cloisters was built by Miss Annie Jane Lawrence as an Open AirSchool and Theosophical Meditation Centre. Having moved toLetchworth in 1905, Miss Lawrence leased a three-acre plot andwasted no time in setting up her school, alongside building a homefor herself, the Cloisters Lodge.The building opened on 28th January 1907 – the unique design issaid to have come to Miss Lawrence in a dream and she employed thearchitect William Harrison Collishaw to bring it to reality.It consisted of a large half-oval ‘open-air room’ called the `CloistersGarth’ with an open colonnade to the south and large glazed bays tothe north. This was flanked by two wings, one housing the kitchenand store rooms and the other the cubicles & dressing rooms for anoval open-air swimming pool. The decorations around the building,which can still be seen today, were packed with symbolism from thehealthy lifestyle she advocated – doves representing innocence, batsabout to start their dusk patrols, bees building honeycombs toprovide food for the gods, and butterflies dancing with natural joy.An electric organ was installed in the Cloisters entrance hall, andthrough a system of pipes the disembodied sound of organ musicwould waft around the building. Boarding students ate communally(although all housework was considered a male activity) and retiredin the evenings to hammocks that were let down from the ceiling.During the Second World War, the Cloisters was commandeered bythe army who, unfortunately, did not treat the building kindly. Whenit was returned after 6 years, compensation of £2500 was claimedtowards its restoration. However, this was not enough and MissLawrence did not have the money to repair it on her own. Convincedthat it should remain a building for the community, she offered it tothe County Council for free but was turned down and spent the restof her life looking for the right organisation to take the building on.In 1948, after a chance remark, Miss Lawrence was inspired to offerthe Cloisters to the local Masonic fraternity. They accepted and thefirst Lodge meeting took place in October 1951, after extensiverenovations had been carried out. By now Miss Lawrence had movedout of the Lodge and into a nursing home where, now happy that hergrand building was in use again, she died in 1953 at the age of 90.Miss Annie Jane Lawrence at an event at The Cloisters