The Order of Silence (also known as The White Ladies) was a small Christian community based in Cold Ash, Berkshire between 1912 and 1921.
[1] Members of the order were exclusively women, who were required to dress simply, often in white veils and robes.
[5][6][7] The community in Cold Ash consisted of buildings and land adjacent to Hermitage Road, notably The Cloisters (designed by James MacLaren Ross[8][9]), Ancren Gate (an Anchorite house where Curtis lived, built in 1914)[10] and 60 acres (24 ha) of land for farming and gardening.
In 1921, due to Curtis's deteriorating health and the Order's precarious financial situation, the site at Cold Ash was sold to Olive Willis to become the new premises for Downe House School.
[13] This new community, composed of many former members of the Order of Silence, built a small collection of wooden cottages and a chapel (completed in 1938), all without electricity or piped water.