Christabel Cowper (c.1495 – 1562) was an English Benedictine nun who was the last prioress of Marrick Priory before the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Her brother Edward was born in Kirkbymoorside in North Yorkshire and he would become the Bishop of Rievaulx[1] until 1533 when he was found guilty of misconduct.
[2] The commissioners noted that Marrick was spending a larger proportion of its income on supplying alms than similar groups of nuns.
As it was the commissioners eventually gave the house three years of grace, but Cowper was not idle.
[2] On 15 September 1539, Cowper surrendered the priory to the commissioners viz John Uvedale and Leonard Bekwith.