In 1833, Annecy had become the Mother House - the main house for the new branch of the Sisters of St Joseph. Expansion was on the way!

In 1849, Sisters left from Annecy to work in India. Here they met an British Army Officer, Captain Dewell, whose home county was Wiltshire, England. He himself had become a Catholic and wanted Sisters to work for the people, in his home area of Wiltshire...

… and so the flame of The Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy was carried from India to Devizes, England in 1864.

By 1873, the Sisters needed to expand and to move to a more central area. They were invited to Newport, South Wales to teach in the rapidly expanding docks town. In 1874, the house on Stow Hill was opened. This would later become the first Provincial House of the English Province.

The administration of the Province was carried out from Stow Hill. It also housed the Noviciate - the training centre for new Sisters. In addition on the same site, there was a day and boarding school for pupils from Kindergarten through to College/University entrance. Sisters from the Community taught in Stow Hill as well as in local parish schools. The Sisters also did a great deal of home visiting and parish work. Stow Hill was the centre from which Sisters went to College, University and Nursing Training. It was the "home" to which elderly Sisters returned.
It served these functions until the end of World War II when it was decided to look for extra accommodation in the area. Llantarnam Abbey came on the market and seemed ideal. Thus the Abbey property, with all its Catholic connections, came into our hands.