Introduction

The ruined abbeys which dot both the urban and the rural landscape of the county of Yorkshire are amongst the most lavish in the country, and some of their names are known worldwide.  All were destroyed during the Reformation of the mid 16^th century; their lands confiscated and sold off by the Crown; their fabric robbed for more Earthy purposes.  All that now remains are a collection of highly evocative, some might say, romantic piles of masonry, often in astonishingly beautiful settings.  Their origins however belong back in the early medieval times, when they acquired large tracts of land, usually from bequests made by nobles and gentry hoping for a 'fast-track' to heaven when their time came.  The monks employed large numbers of lay brothers who by their toil built up huge wealth for the abbeys, usually in the form of sheep and their fleeces, but any and many other means of industrial enterprise were similarly engaged in to further bolster the monastic finances.  Most were established by orders of monks from mainland Europe, France in particular; a few however had their origins in the old Celtic Christian tradition, such as that at Whitby, where there had been a monastic house from long before the Conquest.   Others such as the Carthusian house at Hull were relative latecomers, being amongst the last to be established in the county. 

The end for these places was as sudden as it was dramatic.  Many can be said to be the reasons for Henry VIII and his severance from the Catholic church of Rome, greed, lust, the need for a male heir, the advent of Protestantism, one can take one's pick, but the end result was for the abbeys, the same.  Their wealth was needed for the royal exchequer, and their lands to appease loyal servants of the Crown, and to raise further funds by the sale of monastic assets.  The sudden loss of the established Church, called the 'Dissolution of the Monasteries' especially in the north, and Yorkshire in particular was an affront to many if not most of the population.  The consequential revolt known as the 'Pilgrimage of Grace' was an attempt to redress their grievances, and re-establish the Roman church, and the status quo.  Henry was in no mood to listen, nor to compromise, so the revolt was put down without mercy.  One particularly valuable asset stripped from the abbeys were the lead roofs, this left the buildings open to wind and weather, which resulted in their rapid collapse and quick decay.   It has only been recently that most have been stabilised, and made safe for the massive ingress if day-trippers and tourists, who delight (mainly) to attempt to visualise the devotion, splendour, and opulence of what once was.

The present day location will be herein provided to aid any wishing to visit the ruins.  A brief history of each house is also provided together with a list of abbots where these are known.  Only monochromatic images have been included, firstly to provide 'atmosphere' and secondly, so as not to spoil any pleasant surprises, should any of them be subsequently visited.  It would be all too easy to provide wonderfully exotic and carefully re-mastered imagery to any readers, but this article is not about photography, it is about the buildings them selves, and in this vein it is, I feel, unnecessary to over emphasise them with glossy and filtered images.  After all the scriptorium brothers did not have access to computers to aid them in making and copying their books and manuscripts, all such work was done by hand, for the glory of their God.  At this point I wish to thank Tami Peck of Camas County, Idaho, U.S.A. for her masterly rendition of the title image for this article.  Tami's contribution was originally much, much larger, and I have done her original image little honour by reducing it so dramatically. 

It might seem to some that the county of Yorkshire is endowed with more than its fair share of these magnificent edifices of times gone past, perhaps this is so, but in the period in which they were founded and built, the county was a wild and greatly forested place, with I believe, wolves still roaming the forest fringes.  [.records clearly indicate its presence in England at least until the 14th century where encounters with humans (i.e. hunting) became more rare, habitat loss in the form of deforestation being the main cause in its decline. The last wolf south of the Scottish border was believed to have been killed sometime in the 1480's (Delibes, 1990).]   Not only were there natural predators to consider.  During the early 14^th century, as an example, the northern counties of England were prone to visitations from Scottish raiders and erstwhile invaders, who were not always as respectful of the Church as they might have been.  These were then not the romantic and idyllic places they seem today.  They were frontier islands of agriculture, industry, and contemplation.  In their heyday, each foundation was a hive of production and husbandry, with much of their revenue in several cases being based on the harvesting of wool.  It was monastic wool, and the sale thereof that sponsored the release of king Richard the Lion Hearted from his capture and imprisonment by Leopold of Austria, (1192-1193), ] much of it passing through the then little known port of Wyke super Myton, known today as the city of Kingston upon Hull.  The lands, to which these abbeys were titled, were for the most part initially uncultivated and untamed, such areas were more common in the northern counties than they were in the more 'civilised' southern counties of England.  This may go some way to explaining why there is such a predominance of them in Yorkshire.  It is no cynicism to suggest a north-south divide; incidentally such views were and might yet be held by some people of the southern counties, safe to say, their loss!  

The Oxford English Dictionary is for once particularly vague about the definition of an abbey, simply stating that an abbey is/was "an establishment occupied by a community of monks or nuns."  An Abbot however is defined as "a man who is the head of an abbey of monks." From the two definitions, it might be safe to say that an abbey was a community of monks, whose head, was an abbot.  This in distinction to establishments under a Prior, called quite obviously, priories.  Sometimes there is little distinction between an abbey and a priory, therefore, in order not to omit any of the abbeys, I might have included by way of safety, the occasional priory, but rather that in my opinion than be remiss.  There were also copious other smaller establishments and houses, with lesser and lesser monks in attendance.  The list below is alphabetical, both by way of the order of monks, and thence by the houses thereof for ease of finding.   So, to select one of the abbeys listed, simply click on it, and a new window will open to that specific establishment. 

In order to glean some understanding of the philosophy of what it meant to be a monk, one of the best sources is the Rule of St. Benedict.  While such strictures were meant primarily for the Benedictine order of monks who adopted them long after the sainted Benedict had died, they would have been, one suspects, the standard by which many monks were instructed.  Here then is an indication of the rules by which monks were meant to live by, although not always successfully it has to be said.

CHAPTER IV

The Instruments of Good Works

(1) In the first place to love the Lord God with the whole heart, the whole soul, the whole strength...
(2) Then, one's neighbour as one's self (cf Mt 22:37-39; Mk 12:30-31; Lk 10:27).
(3) Then, not to kill...
(4) Not to commit adultery...
(5) Not to steal...
(6) Not to covet (cf Rom 13:9).
(7) Not to bear false witness (cf Mt 19:18; Mk 10:19; Lk 18:20).
(8) To honour all men (cf 1 Pt 2:17).
(9) And what one would not have done to himself, not to do to another (cf Tob 4:16; Mt 7:12; Lk 6:31).
(10) To deny one's self in order to follow Christ (cf Mt 16:24; Lk 9:23).
(11) To chastise the body (cf 1 Cor 9:27).
(12) Not to seek after pleasures.
(13) To love fasting.
(14) To relieve the poor.
(15) To clothe the naked...
(16) To visit the sick (cf Mt 25:36).
(17) To bury the dead.
(18) To help in trouble.
(19) To console the sorrowing.
(20) To hold one's self aloof from worldly ways.
(21) To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.
(22) Not to give way to anger.
(23) Not to foster a desire for revenge.
(24) Not to entertain deceit in the heart.
(25) Not to make a false peace.
(26) Not to forsake charity.
(27) Not to swear, lest perchance one swear falsely.
(28) To speak the truth with heart and tongue.
(29) Not to return evil for evil (cf 1 Thes 5:15; 1 Pt 3:9).
(30) To do no injury, yea, even patiently to bear the injury done us.
(31) To love one's enemies (cf Mt 5:44; Lk 6:27).
(32) Not to curse them that curse us, but rather to bless them.
(33) To bear persecution for justice sake (cf Mt 5:10).
(34) Not to be proud...
(35) Not to be given to wine (cf Ti 1:7; 1 Tm 3:3).
(36) Not to be a great eater.
(37) Not to be drowsy.
(38) Not to be slothful (cf Rom 12:11).
(39) Not to be a murmurer [gossip].
(40) Not to be a detractor.
(41) To put one's trust in God.
(42) To refer what good one sees in himself, not to self, but to God.
(43) But as to any evil in himself, let him be convinced that it is his own and charge it to himself.
(44) To fear the Day of Judgment.
(45) To be in dread of hell.
(46) To desire eternal life with all spiritual longing.
(47) To keep death before one's eyes daily.
(48) To keep a constant watch over the actions of our life.
(49) To hold as certain that God sees us everywhere.
(50) To dash at once against Christ the evil thoughts which rise in one's heart.
(51) And to disclose them to our spiritual father.
(52) To guard one's tongue against bad and wicked speech.
(53) Not to love much speaking.
(54) Not to speak useless words and such as provoke laughter.
(55) Not to love much or boisterous laughter.
(56) To listen willingly to holy reading.
(57) To apply one's self often to prayer.
(58) To confess one's past sins to God daily in prayer with sighs and tears, and to amend them for the future.
(59) Not to fulfil the desires of the flesh (cf Gal 5:16).
(60) To hate one's own will.
(61) To obey the commands of the Abbot in all things, even though he himself (which Heaven forbid) act otherwise, mindful of that precept of the Lord: "What they say, do ye; what they do, do ye not" (Mt 23:3).
(62) Not to desire to be called holy before one is; but to be holy first, that one may be truly so called.
(63) To fulfil daily the commandments of God by works.
(64) To love chastity.
(65) To hate no one.
(66) Not to be jealous; not to entertain envy.
(67) Not to love strife.
(68) Not to love pride.
(69) To honour the aged.
(70) To love the younger.
(71) To pray for one's enemies in the love of Christ.
(72) To make peace with an adversary before the setting of the sun.
(73) And never to despair of God's mercy.  

Behold, these are the instruments of the spiritual art, which, if they have been applied without ceasing day and night and approved on judgment day, will merit for us from the Lord that reward which He hath promised: "The eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him" (1 Cor 2:9). But the workshop in which we perform all these works with diligence is the enclosure of the monastery, and stability in the community.

[ http://www.kansasmonks.org/RuleOfStBenedict.html#ch4 ]

Here briefly are the distinctions between monastic orders; each will be examined in great detail at the appropriate time.  My sincere thanks go to Sandy Colby for this contribution.

Benedictine

Followed the rule of St. Benedict, all worshipping God in the same way. The emphasis was on monasteries supporting themselves and being self-sufficient. There was insistence on obedience and the monks lived and died in the monastery. The monastery usually had towns around them. Bede was a Benedictine monk 

Cistercian

Break away group from the Benedictines. Founder of the order was a Stephen Harding and they were sort of halfway between Benedictines and Cluniacs. Monasteries were usually in isolated sites and they used plain architecture. The monks lived austere lives, were very industrious and modified the landscape in order to support themselves. The sites were given to the monks so were generally on poor land. Cistercians were called white monks because of the colour of their habits. The preference for isolated areas was so that they could be 'the world forgetting, but the world forgot' (Aston 2000). They became skilled at drainage and other engineering skills in order to improve the state of the land and at one time there was something like 15000 sheep at Fountains.  

Cluniacs

Monasteries are isolated and were completely independent and the only person over them was the pope. The rule of silence was strictly observed. Devotion to the religious side only and they employed lay brothers who did the agricultural work etc. to support the monastery and main monks. The Priors at Cluniac monasteries had to go to Cluny each year.

Carthusians

Communal living but individual within the monastery, an austere and strict order. Monks each had a cell which had a small garden to grow vegetables and the monks were expected to look after this and also have a trade which could be of use to the monastery. This was carried out in a workshop under the cell. There was a separate house away from the main monastery for lay brothers. Meals were taken in the refectory only on feast days. They came out of their cells for night vigils and offices.

Premonstratensians

Order of canons based on Cistercians but they did a bit more extramural preaching outside of the monastery. Their monasteries were located on isolated sites.

[Aston, M. (2000) 'Monasteries in the Landscape'. ISBN: 0752419013. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.]

The Abbeys of Yorkshire

In this section will be listed not only the abbeys of Yorkshire, but also the priories, preceptories, friaries, colleges, and hospitals.  All were religious houses, all operated by monks and/or nuns, and while the abbeys were the pinnacle of the monastic system, the lower houses more perhaps provided for the people of Yorkshire both rural and urban as is best demonstrated by the quantity and locations of the hospitals.  In most cases, the only formal education available was gained from the monastic collegiate churches.  These are quite long lists, but essential to provide an idea of the county-wide coverage in pre-Dissolution times, times that had lasted unchallenged for some 500 years.  The sudden removal of each and every one of them in the space of 4 years was nothing short of a disaster.

BENEDICTINE

St. Benedict did not, strictly speaking, found an order; we have no evidence that he ever contemplated the spread of his Rule to any monasteries besides those which he had himself established. Subiaco was his original foundation and the cradle of the institute. From St. Gregory we learn that twelve other monasteries in the vicinity of Subiaco also owed their origin to him, and that when he was obliged to leave that neighbourhood he founded the celebrated Abbey of Monte Cassino, which eventually become the centre whence his Rule and institute spread. These fourteen are the only monasteries of which there is any reliable evidence of having been founded during St. Benedict's lifetime. The tradition of St. Placid's mission to Sicily in 534, which first gained general credence in the eleventh century, though accepted as genuine by such writers as Mabillon and Ruinart, is now generally admitted to be mere romance. Very little more can be said in favour of the supposed introduction of the Benedictine Rule into Gaul by St. Maurus in 543, though it also has been strenuously upheld by many responsible writers. At any rate, evidences for it are so extremely doubtful that it cannot be seriously regarded as historical. There is reason for believing that it was the third Abbot of Monte Cassino who began to spread a knowledge of the Rule beyond the circle of St. Benedict's own foundations. It is at least certain that when Monte Cassino was sacked by the Lombards about the year 580, the monks fled to Rome, where they were housed by Pope Pelagius II in a monastery adjoining the Lateran Basilica. There, in the very centre of the ecclesiastical world, they remained for upwards of a hundred and forty years, and it seems highly probable that this residence in so prominent a position constituted an important factor in the diffusion of a knowledge of Benedictine monasticism. It is generally agreed also that when Gregory the Great embraced the monastic state and converted his family palace on Apostle, it was the Benedictine form of monasticism that he adopted there.

St. Augustine and his monks established the first English Benedictine monastery at Canterbury soon after their arrival in 597. Other foundations quickly followed as the Benedictine missionaries carried the light of the Gospel with them throughout the length and breadth of the land. It was said that St. Benedict seemed to have taken possession of the country as his own, and the history of his order in England is the history of the English Church. Nowhere did the order link itself so intimately with people and institutions, secular as well as religious, as in England. Through the influence of saintly men, Wilfrid, Benedict Biscop, and Dunstan, the Benedictine Rule spread with extraordinary rapidity, and in the North, when once the Easter controversy had been settled and the Roman supremacy acknowledged (Synod of Whitby, 664), it was adopted in most of the monasteries that had been founded by the Celtic missionaries from Iona. Many of the Episcopal sees of England were founded and governed by the Benedictines, and no less than nine of the old cathedrals were served by the black monks of the priories attached to them. Even when the bishop was not himself a monk, he held the place of titular abbot, and the community formed his chapter.

[ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02443a.htm ]

ABBEY OF SAINT MARY, YORK  

LOCATION:
Present day access: Museum Street, York. Tel 629745; OPEN: Generally 8am-dusk;
Entrances to the gardens are on Museum Street at the junction of Lendal Bridge; at the side of King's Manor; Marygate (off Bootham); and from the riverside walk. The ruins of St Mary's Abbey, for many years the backdrop and stage to York's famous Mystery Plays, are impressive.   The grounds of the Yorkshire Museum also hold the massive archaeological remains of the Hospital of St. Leonard's.  Ordnance grid Ref: SE 599 52

HISTORY:
Originally the monasterium of St. Olave, the land was given over to Alan the Red (Rufus) Count of Bretagne by king William I.  Alan then granted it to a monk called Stephen from Whitby for the building of a Benedictine abbey, but the Archbishop of York, Thomas de Bayeux, was unsettled by the infringement of the Benedictines so close to the Minster church of St. Peter.  A legal dispute was only settled by the king, who provided the Minster with additional grants.  William II visited York and St. Mary's in 1088 and granted further lands to the abbey, and the following year he laid the foundation stone for the new buildings.  At the same time, the new abbey was re-dedicated to the Virgin, superseding the dedication to St. Olave.
The abbey, at the time of the Dissolution was valued at £2,085/01s/05¾d, and was surrendered by Abbot Dent on the 26^th November 1539, at which time there were 50 monks and the abbot resident.

ABBOTS OF ST. MARY'S, YORK

One of the surviving seals (housed in the British Museum) is that of Abbot Robert de Longchamp (1197 - 1239); it being a vesica 2¾ inches by 1⅝ inches, and shows the abbot standing and holding a crosier and book with the legend "SIGILL' ROBERTI DEI GRACIA ABBIS SCE MARIE EBOR"

 ABBEY OF ST. MARY AND ST. GERMAIN OF SELBY

LOCATION:
Selby Abbey can be found in the centre of the town of Selby, Ordnance Survey grid ref: SE 615 325.  For further information see: http://www.selbyabbey.org.uk/
And
http://www.selbynet.co.uk/selbylife/

HISTORY:
Established in 1068 when Benedict, a monk of Auxerre in France, founded a hermitage at the site after he had received a vision.  He carried with him a finger of the saint as a holy relic, and upon hearing of the monk, king William I made a grant of land for the building of a monastery.  The charter of foundation was dated 1070, and is the earliest in England after the Norman Conquest.  It is by reputation, the birthplace in 1068, of king Henry I, son of William I and Matilda.
Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 valued the abbey and its assets at £719/2s/6¼d.  The abbey surrendered on the 6^th December 1539, with the surrender being enrolled on the 6^th February 1540.  At that time there were 23 monks plus the abbot, Robert Selby.
Rarely, this abbey church has survived in tact, becoming the parish church

ABBOTS OF SELBY

 A surviving seal from the 11^th century in the shape of a vesica measuring 2¾ inches by 2 inches has a figure of St. Germain, seated and blessing, holding a crosier; the seal bares the legend SIGILLV SCI GERMANI SELBIENSIS ECLESIE.

The fabric of the abbey church at Selby survived the destruction of the Dissolution in tact, but a fire in October 1906 did severe damage.  An ongoing regime of restoration and preservation has given this outstanding and rare building a new lease of life, which will hopefully last for many more centuries.

Some claim is made that the medieval heraldic stained glass window, which is dated to the 14^th century, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest representation of the arms of the Washington family, who's son George became the first President of the United States of America.  It is said that George Washington lent the red stripes from his own family coat of arms to the flag of the new nation, where they have remained, although increased, ever since.  The existence of the Washington window at Selby could be a memorial to some long lost bequeath made by the family to the abbey, the full reason may never be resolved.

Present day access: go to http://www.selbynet.co.uk/selbylife/

ABBEY OF ST. PETER, WHITBY  

LOCATION:
Present day access: On cliff top E of Whitby (OS Map 94; ref NZ 904115)
Local Tourist Information Whitby 01947 602674) - for further information go to: http://accessibility.english-heritage.org.uk/filestore/visitsevents/asp/visits/Details.asp?Property_Id=393

HISTORY:
The early Christian monastery of Streoneshalch, associated with abbess Hilda, was not the same institution as the Benedictine abbey of two centuries later.  However, William de Percy established the re-founded abbey of St. Peter, on the same site at its predecessor.  The real origin of the Benedictine abbey is clouded by the existence of three differing accounts; consequently the exact date of the foundation of the abbey can only be attributed to the year's immediately post Norman conquest.
Valor Ecclesiasticus states that Whitby was surrendered on the 14^th December 1539, and was valued at £437/2s/9d.

ABBOTS OF WHITBY

ABBOTS OF WHITBY

The abbey was acquired after the Dissolution by Richard Cholmley, who robbed much of the fabric to build a family mansion.  The nave of the church however, survived until 1762, in which year it collapsed, the central tower and western font also collapsed by the end of the 18^th century.

A 13^th century circular seal 2 inches in diameter shows St. Hilda standing beneath a canopy, holding a crosier and book between two alters each with a priest before it consecrating the chalice, above each priest a dove with a wafer in their beaks and over all the sun and moon, with the legend "SVBENIAT FAMVL' NOBIL' HILDA SVIS".

Houses of Benedictine monks
Priory of Monk Bretton
Priory of St. Lawrence, Snaith
Priory of St. Hilda, Middlesbrough, a cell of Whitby
Priory of All Saints, Fishergate, York, a cell of Whitby
Priory of St. Martin, Richmond, a cell of St. Mary's, York  
Priory of monks, Burstall in Holdernes

Houses of Benedictine nuns
Priory of St. Andrew, Arden
Priory of St. Stephen, Foukeholm
Priory of  St. Mary (and St. Andrew) Marrick
Priory of Nunburnholme
Priory of Nunkeeling
Priory of St.'s Mary and Maud, Nun Monkton
Priory of Wilberfoss
Priory of 'Little Mareis', Yedingham
Priory of St. Clement, York

CISTERCIAN
The origins of the Cistercian Order lie in Burgundy. In 1098 Abbot Robert and a group of his monks from Molesme, who were dissatisfied with contemporary monasticism, sought solitude and seclusion in woods south of Dijon. They wished to follow a harsher and more disciplined way of life, according to a literal interpretation of the Rule of St Benedict. The Cistercians were often referred to as the White Monks for they wore habits of un-dyed wool that appeared grey or white, and not the customary Benedictine black habit. They were renowned for the severity and simplicity of their clothing, diet, architecture and liturgy (prayer and worship). The Cistercians were also noted for their emphasis on manual work, which they made once more an central part of the monastic day as St Bernard had prescribed.

The White Monks built their abbeys in remote, uncultivated areas, far from human habitation. Each abbey was a self-sufficient unit. The monks rejected income from churches, tithes and manorial rents, and sought to live by the labour of their own hands, as recommended in the Rule of St Benedict. They worked their lands directly through a series of granges that were managed and farmed by lay brothers, or conversi. All Cistercian churches were dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and were free from decoration, ostentation and luxury. Visually, they were quite distinct from the richly adorned Benedictine churches, with their sculptures, lavish furnishings and jewels.

The Cistercians did not see themselves as starting a new system of monastic life but rather as restoring the pure form of the Benedictine life. Their system of organisation was, however, quite original. Cistercian Houses were joined in a familial relationship, linked through unity and charity. Each abbey was visited yearly by its mother-house to ensure that standards were maintained. A General Chapter of abbots met annually at Cîteaux to discuss discipline and legislation. Cistercian administration was highly efficient and had a considerable influence on later monastic orders.

Of the new religious orders that emerged in twelfth-century Europe, the Cistercians alone secured a firm hold in Britain. They made a phenomenal impact in Yorkshire, where the eight houses established between 1131 and 1150 acted as a seed bed for subsequent foundations in Britain. By the mid-twelfth century the White Monks had spread throughout England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. They were new, attractive, and had widespread appeal. Those dissatisfied with the state of contemporary Benedictine monasticism were drawn to the simplicity of Cistercian life. Donors, who sought the best spiritual return for their gifts, were impressed by their holiness, poverty and austere life style; the Cistercians' incorporation of lay-brothers - professed members of the community who engaged in manual work - opened the monastic life in Britain to an area of society previously excluded from organised religion.

In 1131 Bernard of Clairvaux sent a letter to Henry I telling him of his intention to found Clairvaux's first daughter-house in Britain. He wished to establish an abbey in the North of England, where the wild, desolate landscape was well-suited to Cistercian expansion. Bernard's choice of location was probably also influenced by his familiarity with this area, for he had contacts in the North, and several of his key monks at Clairvaux came from Yorkshire. Bernard's letter to King Henry is characteristically dynamic and fused with military imagery. He presents the venture as a carefully orchestrated military campaign: monks of Clairvaux were to suss out the area and report back; he would then send an army of monks to occupy the outpost, and from there infiltrate the country.

[ http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/order ]

THE ABBEY OF SAINT MARY BYLAND  

LOCATION:
Six miles north of Easingwold, in North Yorkshire, Byland Abbey is only two miles south of  another Cistercian abbey, that at Rievaulx.   Ordnance Survey grid ref for Byland Abbey: SE 549 789.

For full details visit:
http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/byland/location/
and
http://www.york-tourism.co.uk/Visitors/visitors_dynamictemplate.cfm?ContentType=WhatToDo&AttractionId=138

HISTORY
Founded in 1134 as a Savigniac house, it was incorporated into the Cistercian Order in 1147.  A very chequered early history resulted in this house eventually being established at Whiteker, and to which the Cistercian monks added the name of their house - Bellalanda, from which Byland derives.  An original grant of land was made to the monks of Furness by a young Roger de Mowbray in c1140.  It was not until 1177 that the tribulations that had surrounded the establishment of the house had been largely overcome.  Henry II granted the monks of Byland the privilege of being free in all cities, boroughs, markets, fairs, bridges, and ports throughout England and Normandy.  Little has come down to us other than the election of some of the abbots. 
At the dissolution there were 7 bells, 100 fodder of lead, 516 oz. Of plate, and the gross annual value was set at £295 5s 4d.; and at the surrender there were 23 monks and the abbot.

ABBOTS OF BYLAND

The seal, small and semi-circular, ¾in. in diameter, has a half-length figure of our Lady with the Child, and the legend AVE [MARIA]

An abbot sealed c1186 with a little vesica, 1½in. by 1in., showing the standing figure of himself holding staff and book.  Abbot Walter (?) in or about 1210 used a seal of similar design.  Both of these have the same legend:
SIGILLVM ABBATIS DE BELLELANDA

Another abbot's seal, used in 1186, has a design of a hand and arm, holding a crozier, with the legend: SIGILLVM ABBATIS BELLELANDRE            

THE ABBEY OF FOUNTAINS   

LOCATION:
The abbey ruins are situated 4 miles west or Ripon and can be access from the A1 trunk road via the A61 junction.  Alternatively, follow the brown tourist signs out of Ripon.
For fuller details access: http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/
Ordnance Survey grid Ref. SE 274 684

HISTORY
The first grant of land was made in 1132 to twelve monks from St. Mary's Abbey, York, and one from Whitby, all of whom were dissatisfied with their respective abbeys.  Consequently land was granted 3 miles from Ripon, on the banks of the River Skell.  The monks continued dissatisfaction led them to exchange orders to the Cistercians after consultation with St. Bernard.  The new abbey was soon attracting vast gifts, a long list of which consisting of 61 folio pages has survived.  The extensive building programme soon accounted for much of the wealth of Fountains, leaving it by the end of the 13^th century in great poverty.
Abbot Thirsk, was it seems very unpopular in certain quarters, with the Earl of Northumberland complaining to Cardinal Wolsey of his bad rule.  His participation in the Pilgrimage of Grace ensured his fate when he was hanged at Tyburn in 1537.  Commissioners Layton and Legh, who had accused Thirsk of incontinence [meaning he lacked fiaith] and theft, and they termed him an 'idiot'
The value of Fountains Abbey at the time of closure was quoted thus: Plate £900, with that in the church alone valued at £519 15s. 5d.  The number of horned cattle was listed as 2,356, of sheep 1,326, horses 86, swine 79.  the total annual revenue from various rents was calculated at £1,239 6s. 3½d., with the outgoing at £123 8s. 1½d. leaving a remainder of £1,115 18s. 2d.  The surrender of the abbey was made on the 26^th November 1539 by Abbot Marmaduke Bradley, the prior, and 30, brethren, all listed as priests.  

ABBOTS OF FOUNTAINS ABBEY