Editing Silver Sisterhood

{{Short description|Religious community and video game developer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
[[File:Silver_Sisterhood_members.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|right|Members of St. Bride's school during an appearance on ''The Late Late Show'' in 1988]]
The '''Silver Sisterhood''' was a [[new religious movement]] that was active in [[Burtonport]], [[County Donegal]], Ireland from 1982 to 1992. The group has also been referred to as the '''Rhennish Community''' and '''St. Bride's'''. English writer [[Miss Martindale]] (later the public face of [[Aristasia]]) was a prominent member. The community is known for creating early [[Interactive fiction|text adventure]] video games such as [[The Snow Queen (video game)|''The Snow Queen'']]<ref name="GamesTM"/> and [[Jack the Ripper (1987 video game)|''Jack the Ripper'']].

==Rhennish community==
The Silver Sisterhood came to Burtonport from [[Yorkshire]] in September 1982<ref name="RTE1">{{cite web |title=Maids of the Silver Sisterhood|url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/1116/920656-the-silver-sisterhood-of-burtonport/ |publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann |accessdate=29 February 2020}}</ref> and occupied a large house that had previously been the home of the [[Atlantis (commune)|Atlantis commune]] (often referred to as the Screamers).<ref name="RTE1"/> They christened the house {{lang|ga|An Droichead Beo}}, meaning 'The Bridge of Life'.<ref name="RTE1"/> There were initially seven members.<ref name="RTE1"/>

[[File:Ailtanchorrain.JPG|right |thumb |[[Burtonport]], County Donegal |alt=A road between two buildings, one red and the other pebbledash, with cars parked on either side.]]
The Sisterhood believed in a feminine Supreme Deity.<ref name="RTE2">{{cite web |title=A Matriarchal Society in Donegal |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/1116/920656-the-silver-sisterhood-of-burtonport/ |publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann |accessdate=29 February 2020}}</ref> They worshipped [[Goddess movement|God as the Mother]] and claimed that everything they did centred around the worship of her.<ref name="RTE1"/> Music and chanting had great importance as acts of devotion.<ref name="RTE1"/> The musical instruments used by the group were all handmade by themselves.<ref name="RTE1"/> They stressed a great emphasis on craft as a path to the sacred.<ref name="WomanSpirit">{{cite news |last1=Turner |first1=Buckwheat |title=The Silver Sisterhood |volume=10 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28046780 |accessdate=29 February 2020 |issue=39 |publisher=[[WomanSpirit]] |date=Spring 1984 |ref=WomanSpirit}}</ref> There was also an emphasis on [[Self-sustainability|self-sufficiency]] and the members grew food to feed themselves and sell.<ref name="RTE1"/><ref name="RTE2"/> Members fasted on Fridays by skipping breakfast and lunch.<ref name="WomanSpirit"/> They operated a [[tearoom]] in the house which served the town.<ref name="WomanSpirit"/> No electricity or modern appliances were used by the group initially and plastic was shunned as a [[pollution|pollutant]].<ref name="RTE1"/><ref name="WomanSpirit"/> Female members wore full-length dresses, covered their heads in public, and referred to themselves as 'maids'.<ref name="RTE1"/><ref name="WomanSpirit"/>

The Rhennish community was [[matriarchy|matriarchal]].<ref name="RTE2"/><ref name="WomanSpirit"/> The group claimed to be following a matriarchal structure that was the norm in western Europe in ancient times.<ref name="WomanSpirit"/> [[Patriarchy]] was described as a recent and unusual development that would soon die out and be replaced by a matriarchal golden age.<ref name="WomanSpirit"/> Men could become members.<ref name="RTE2"/> One man was part of the original group that came to Burtonport in 1982.<ref name="RTE1"/> However, he had left by July 1983.<ref name="RTE2"/> In an interview for [[RTÉ]], a member expressed hope that men would come to live in the community long-term but acknowledged that it was difficult to attract them.<ref name="RTE2"/> The community was also hierarchical in nature.<ref name="WomanSpirit"/> Equality was claimed to be a patriarchal concept that stopped people from working together.<ref name="WomanSpirit"/> In an interview for ''[[WomanSpirit]]'' magazine, the view was expressed by one member that there are always leaders in a group whether acknowledged or not<ref name="WomanSpirit"/> and that "some maids like to tell others what to do and some maids like to be told what to do".<ref name="WomanSpirit"/>

==St. Bride's==
Later in the 1980s, members began to wear full [[Victorian era]] [[Victorian fashion|outfits]] on a regular basis and to style themselves as Romantics.<ref name="RTE4">{{cite web |title=Victorian Values Reign in Donegal |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2018/0322/949314-donegal-victorian-romantics/ |publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann |accessdate=29 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="GamesTM">{{cite news |title=The Mystery of St Bride's |url=https://flexiblehead.blog/2014/02/16/st-brides-school/ |date=December 2013 |accessdate=29 February 2020 |issue=142 |publisher=GamesTM |ref=GamesTM |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126034257/https://flexiblehead.blog/2014/02/16/st-brides-school/ |archive-date=26 November 2017}}</ref> In 1984, the house was re-christened as St. Bride's, after the 5th century Irish abbess and miracle worker [[Brigid of Kildare]].<ref name="RTE3">{{cite web |title=School For Young Ladies |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/0319/1037244-saint-brides-school-donegal/ |publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann |accessdate=29 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="GamesTM"/> Visitors to St. Bride's were offered various courses including peat cutting and the experience of attending a Victorian boarding school.<ref name="RTE3"/> The school was advertised in various publications including ''[[The Observer]]'', ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', ''Girl About Town,'' and the theatre programme of the play ''[[Daisy Pulls It Off]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sinclairuser.com/045/bschool.htm|title = Sinclair User 45 - Back to School|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506031129/https://sinclairuser.com/045/bschool.htm|url-status=live|archive-date=6 May 2021}}</ref> The ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' writer Candida Crewe likened the house to a [[Gothic novel]] where "a single candle flickered behind a lace curtain, guests were invited into a parlour heated only by a feeble coal fire, and the mistress of the house greeted her guests wearing a long black dress and white lace collar".<ref name="GamesTM"/> The prospectus offered courses in mathematics, elementary Latin, grammar, and literature. Traditional school artefacts such as desks, slates, uniforms, and canes were included in the setting. Two women, including Miss Martindale, ran the group in this phase.<ref name="GamesTM"/> In 1990 Miss Martindale was convicted of assaulting one of her clients and was handed a £100 fine and a two-month suspended sentence. The assault was by caning on the buttocks, which Martindale claimed was consensual.<ref name="SundayTelegraph2" />

In line with their espoused Victorian values, anti-modern and elitist views were expressed by St. Bride's in the Victorian phase.<ref name="GamesTM"/> Miss Martindale stated that "some people are meant to rule and others to serve".<ref name="SundayTelegraph2">{{Cite news |last1=Farrell |first1=Nicholas |title=Oxford educators |url=http://www.worldofspectrum.org/interviews2/stbrides-st930207.txt |accessdate=29 February 2020 |work=The Sunday Telegraph |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117165422/http://www.worldofspectrum.org/interviews2/stbrides-st930207.txt |archive-date=17 January 2012}}</ref> The group was involved in the anti-[[metric system]] campaign "Don't Give an Inch".<ref name="SundayTelegraph2"/> In a 1988 appearance on [[The Late Late Show (Irish talk show)|''The Late Late Show'']], the two leaders of St. Bride's said that they adopted Victorian dress because they liked it and it was their way of being creative.<ref name="RTE4"/> Discipline and [[corporal punishment]], including [[caning]], were part of the experience and achieved a greater prominence in later years.<ref name="GamesTM"/> This was to an extent that the group has been called a [[Sexual fetishism|fetish]] club.<ref name="GamesTM"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gerrard |first1=David |title=The Hidden Places of Ireland |date=2004 |publisher=Travel Publishing Ltd |page=84 |edition=Fifth }}</ref>

To raise money, St. Bride's also sold handmade costumes and jewellery and published books and magazines.<ref name="GamesTM"/> They also created eight [[text adventure]] video games.<ref name="GamesTM"/> Although television was shunned, computer games were favored as they involved "concentration and commitment".<ref name="GamesTM"/> ''The Secret of St. Bride's'', a time travel adventure set in the school itself, was the first game they created,<ref name="GamesTM"/> followed by ''[[The Snow Queen (video game)|The Snow Queen]]'' based on the [[Hans Christian Andersen]] fairy tale, ''The Very Big Cave Adventure'', a parody of ''[[Colossal Cave Adventure]]'' that also includes sequences parodying ''Alice in Wonderland'' and Batman; ''[[Bugsy (video game)|Bugsy]]'', set in Prohibition-era Chicago and starring a gangster rabbit;<ref name="GamesTM"/> and ''[[Jack the Ripper (1987 video game)|Jack the Ripper]]'', set in 1888 London and a mystical otherland. A departure from St. Bride's earlier light-hearted adventures, ''Jack the Ripper'' was the first video game to receive an "18" rating, mainly on the basis of illustrations supplied by the publisher, [[CRL Group|CRL]].<ref name="Sinclair User Review">{{cite magazine|title=Jack the Ripper Review|magazine=[[Sinclair User]]|date=January 1988}}</ref> The examiner described the script as "more fairy tale than macabre horror".<ref name="eurogamer.net">{{Cite web | url=https://www.eurogamer.net/dracula-unbound-the-story-behind-the-first-18-certificated-video-game | title=Dracula unbound: The story behind the first 18 certificated video game| website=[[Eurogamer]]| date=1 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150303152716/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-01-dracula-unbound-the-story-behind-the-first-18-certificated-video-game |archive-date=3 March 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The final three games were more traditional fantasies and were released in 1991 by GI Games.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://8bitag.com/info/stbrides.html |title=The Secret Games of St. Bride's |website=Twilight Inventory |accessdate=12 December 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329123900/http://8bitag.com/info/stbrides.html | archive-date=29 March 2021}}</ref>

The group left Burtonport in 1992,<ref name="SundayTelegraph">{{cite news |title=Neo-Nazi leaflets found in gracious ladies' academy where caning was on the curriculum Inside the secret world of the sisters of St Bride's |url=http://www.worldofspectrum.org/interviews2/stbrides-st930103.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117171923/http://www.worldofspectrum.org/interviews2/stbrides-st930103.txt |archive-date=17 January 2012 |accessdate=29 February 2020 |newspaper=[[The Sunday Telegraph]] |date=3 January 1993}}</ref> relocating to [[Oxford]] and then [[Whipps Cross]] in [[London]].<ref name="GamesTM"/> [[Far-right politics|Far-right]] and [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] publications were found in the house after they left.<ref name="SundayTelegraph"/> This included a two-year correspondence with [[John Tyndall (politician)|John Tyndall]], then leader of the [[British National Party]], who expressed his admiration for what the St. Bride's group were doing.<ref name="SundayTelegraph"/> One former member denied in an interview with ''The Daily Telegraph'' that they had far-right leanings.<ref name="SundayTelegraph"/> In addition to this, large quantities of [[Sadomasochism|sadomasochistic]] fetish magazines were found at the property, alongside "caning recommendation" forms which, according to ''The Sunday Telegraph'', indicated regular beatings were occurring at St Bride's.<ref name="SundayTelegraph" />

Members of the community used numerous different pseudonyms throughout their time in Burtonport and afterwards, which created confusion among those writing about the group.<ref name="SundayTelegraph2"/><ref name="GamesTM"/>

== Video game releases ==
* ''[[The Secret of St. Brides|The Secret of St. Bride's]]'' – 1985<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/d64_Secret_of_St._Brides_The_1985_St.Brides_School |title = The Secret of St. Bride's |website = [[Internet Archive]] |date = 2018-09-14 |accessdate = 2021-12-12}}</ref>
* ''[[The Snow Queen (video game)|The Snow Queen]]'' – 1985<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxsr.php?id=6991 |title = The Snow Queen|website = Spectrum Computing |date = December 1985 |accessdate = 2021-12-12}}</ref>
* ''The Very Big Cave Adventure'' – 1986<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://worldofspectrum.org//pub/sinclair/games-info/v/VeryBigCaveAdventureThe.txt |title = The Very Big Cave Adventure |website = World of Spectrum |accessdate = 2021-12-12}}</ref>
* ''[[Bugsy (video game)|Bugsy]]'' – 1986
* ''[[Jack the Ripper (1987 video game)|Jack the Ripper]]'' – 1987
* ''The White Feather Cloak'' – 1991<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C690/White+Feather+Cloak%2C+The.html |title = The White Feather Cloak |website = The Classic Adventures Solution Archive |date = 2010-05-10 |accessdate = 2021-12-12}}</ref>
* ''The Dogboy'' – 1985<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://worldofspectrum.org/archive/software/text-adventures/the-dogboy-st-brides-school |title=The Dogboy |website=World of Spectrum |accessdate = 2021-12-12}}</ref>
* ''Silverwolf'' – 1991<ref>{{Cite web |url = http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C3417/Silverwolf.html |title = Silverwolf|website = The Classic Adventures Solution Archive |date = 2010-10-20 |accessdate = 2021-12-12}}</ref>
* ''2011'' or ''Wondergirl'' – never released<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://worldofspectrum.org/archive/people/st-brides-school|title = People: St. Bride's School|website = World of Spectrum |accessdate = 2021-12-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = https://worldofspectrum.org/archive/publishers/St-Brides-School|title = Publishers: St. Bride's School|website = World of Spectrum |accessdate = 2021-12-12}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/1116/920656-the-silver-sisterhood-of-burtonport/ 1], [https://www.rte.ie/archives/2018/0703/976011-the-silver-sisterhood-in-donegal/ 2], [https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/0319/1037244-saint-brides-school-donegal/ 3], [https://www.rte.ie/archives/2018/0322/949314-donegal-victorian-romantics/ 4] RTÉ archive footage about the Silver Sisterhood.

*BBC Radio Ulster - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001dd9q ''Assume Nothing'' - The Secrets of St Brides.] 

[[Category:1982 establishments in Ireland]]
[[Category:1992 disestablishments in Ireland]]
[[Category:Intentional communities in Ireland]]
[[Category:Matriarchy]]
[[Category:Religion in County Donegal]]
[[Category:Defunct video game companies of Ireland]]
[[Category:Women's organisations based in Ireland]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 1980s]]
[[Category:Women video game developers]]