26 CONTEXT 183 : MARCH 2025 ELAINE GRIFFITHS Healing through heritage Physical and mental healing happens in the most unexpected places, like the sacred, peaceful walls of a once-abandoned monastery just outside the city of Manchester. In a world where stress, isolation and mental health challenges are becoming ever more prevalent, there is an urgent need for spaces providing a different approach to health, both physical and mental, that has emotional and spiritual healing at its heart. At Gorton Monastery in Manchester, we are pioneering a holistic approach to wellbeing that blends heritage, community engagement and integrative health practices, creating a haven for preventative health in the heart of one of the most deprived areas in the country. This approach is directly supporting our local community, complementing existing services, while at the same time demonstrating the power of heritage buildings as spaces for healing. Gorton Monastery in 2007 (Photo: Pete Birkinshaw, Wikimedia) and (below) more recently Gorton Monastery is a Grade II*-listed building, designed by Edward Welby Pugin, that has stood for over 150 years, offering peace
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