Joan Harkey

Joan Harkey ( – 1550) was the last English prioress of Ellerton Priory in Swaledale in Yorkshire.

Details of Harkey's birth and early life are unknown, but at some point she was promoted from nun to prioress.

Harkey had to admit that one of her nuns, Cecily Swale, was asking to leave the convent.

Not every monastery or convent was to be closed in this phase,[2] but the priory was formally surrendered to the Crown in August that year and dissolved in 1537.

[3] The convent's buildings are in ruins, but protected as a scheduled Ancient Monument and parts of the priory are grade II listed.