Katharine and I had a day out last Friday, taking the bus to Bolton Abbey, situated below the escarpment at the southern edge of the North York Moors, south-east of Sutton Bank.
Byland Abbey was described in the 12th century as one of the shining lights of northern monasticism. Its beginnings were unpromising – it was only after 43 years and numerous moves that the community of Byland found a permanent home. Yet the abbey rose to be one of the largest of the Cistercian order in Britain. The remains of the buildings, particularly the great church with its magnificent west front, are important in the development of northern monastic architecture in the second half of the 12th century.
The final site of the abbey was originally mainly marshland. Drainage and construction work most probably began in the late 1150s and the buildings were sufficiently complete by 1177 to be occupied. The building of the great church must have occupied at least another 15 years.
Byland was closed in 1538 as part of the Suppression of the Monasteries. In order to obtain a divorce from Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII (r.1509–47) declared himself head of the Church in England in 1533. This Act of Supremacy was followed by a valuation of all church property, and then an Act of Parliament in 1535 to close all monasteries with an income of less than £200.
The closure of the smaller monasteries proved very unpopular in the north, provoking the uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. Henry VIII used this as an excuse to close the remaining, larger monasteries, and on 30 November 1538 Abbot John Ledes (or Alanbridge) and 25 monks duly signed Byland’s deed of surrender. Ledes received a pension of £50 per year and the monks lesser pensions of between £5 and £6.
The abbey was gutted of all valuable items. The plate was valued and shipped to London, while the buildings were stripped of lead, glass and timber. Byland and its estates were then granted to Sir William Pickering (d. 1542) in 1540.
The abbey was subsequently used as a source of building stone and it fell into ruins. Byland was transferred to state guardianship in 1920, and in 1921 the Office of Works began to excavate and clear the site of debris. The standing walls were consolidated and repaired and the plan of the abbey was revealed. In the 1950s, a small site museum was built to exhibit many of the elaborate carved stones that had been discovered in the 1920s excavations. (History from the English Heritage website).
This shot shows the north and west walls of the church. The half circle of stone on the upper part of the west wall can only hint at what the rose window must once have lookied like.
It was a cold and windy day, and we were rather chilly by the time that we caught the bus back to York.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
It is always nice to see buildings of limestone with their rich colour, made even more attractive with sun shining on it - but this wasn't the case on our visit. The stone is Hambleton Oolite Limestone, obtained from still visible medieval quarries found 1 mile (1.5km) to the north-east on Wass Bank. Some Lower Calcareous Grit is also used in the construction.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
It is always nice to see buildings of limestone with their rich colour, made even more attractive with sun shining on it - but this wasn't the case on our visit. The stone is Hambleton Oolite Limestone, obtained from still visible medieval quarries found 1 mile (1.5km) to the north-east on Wass Bank. Some Lower Calcareous Grit is also used in the construction.
Ian
Thank you both. It is an impressive set of ruins and the history of the monks is a long and complicated story.
Ian