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| - The one thing that defines Whitby is the Abbey. Painted and photographed over the centuries. Written about in fact and fiction and by poets. It dominates the skyline.
High on a cliff above the Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby are the gaunt, imposing remains of Whitby Abbey. Founded in 657 by St Hilda, Whitby Abbey has over the years been a bustling settlement, a kings' burial place, the setting for a historic meeting between Celtic and Roman clerics, the home
of saints including the poet Caedmon, and inspiration for Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. Over 2,000 years of history make the Abbey one of England's most important archaeological sites. At the interactive visitor centre you can view archaeological finds and audio-visual displays. I missed out on being at this last dig etc with moving.
It was founded in 657 AD by the Saxon King of Northumbria, Oswy (Oswiu) as Streanshalh (Streonshalh). He appointed Lady Hilda, niece of Edwin, the first christian king of Northumbria, as Abbess. St Hild was a Saxon princess -- daughter of Prince Hereric and sister-in-law to Aethelhere,
King of East Anglia -- and she seems to have been a remarkable character.
She was born in 614, and baptized by the missionary Paulinus, but lived a secular life for 33 years before she felt called upon to renounce the world and become an abbess, first at the monastery of Hartleypool, and later at Whitby. The Venerable Bede, the famous 8th-century monk who wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, notes that, she taught the observance of righteousness, mercy, purity and other virtues, but especially of peace and charity.
When Abbess Hild died in 680, a nun in the monastery of Hackness, thirteen miles away, was said to have had a vision of her being carried aloft by angels. Bede maintains that a messenger who was sent from Whitby with the sorry news was shocked and confused to find the monks and nuns at Hackness already mourning her passing.
After her death, Hild was granted sainthood. Her relics, along with those of King Oswy and King Edwin, attracted many pilgrims, and the financial donations these pilgrims brought to the abbey were used to fund further building work.
The double monastery of Benedictine monks and nuns was also home to the great Saxon poet Caedmon. In 664, the abbey, built on the east cliff overlooking the Esk and town of Whitby, was the site of the Synod of Whitby, at which the Northumbrian Celtic church was reconciled to Rome.
In 867, the abbey fell to Viking attack, and was abandoned until 1078, when it was re-founded by Regenfrith (Reinferd) a soldier monk, under the orders of his protector, the Norman, William de Percy.
On the 14th December, 1539 William Davell, the last abbot of Whitby, gave the abbey to Henry VIII's commissioners under the Dissolution of the Monasteries Act
This second monastery lasted until it was destroyed by Henry VIII in 1540.
The abbey buildings fell into ruins, and were mined for stone, but remained a prominent landmark for sailors.
It was called Streoneshalh (the historical name of the town Whitby where the abbey is located).
There are two ways to approach the Abbey: from the car park to the south, or from Whitby town itself via 199 winding (and rather steep!) stone steps.
The steps are best!
Following the path from the car park though you'll pass by the Abbey Pond.
In the Middle Ages the interior of the choir would have been richly painted
and the windows glazed with colored glass. According to John Leland, a 16th-century recorder, one of the stained-glass windows here showed William the Conqueror punishing the Scots for indulging in a dubious habit -- they were believed to be cannibals! The elaborate stone carving on the walls is all that remains of that rich pictorial history now, but it is still possible to imagine what a glorious sight this building must have been in its heyday.
Much of it collapsed in the late 1700s, and in 1914 it suffered further damage when a raiding force of German Navy ships shelled Whitby. There was outrage throughout Britain at the time because of this needless attack on a
civilian target.
Near the nave you can find several tombstones. These were excavated in the 1920s, and some of them are ancient indeed. They date back to Anglo-Saxon times, and are remnants of the first abbey that was erected on this site,
A bit more history:
Around 1070 a Norman soldier called Reinfrid stopped at Whitby and saw the architectural remains of the previous buildings. Some years later, having taken holy vows and became a Benedictine monk, he returned to Whitby with a
group of followers and set about re-establishing the monastic community.
Reinfrid was subsequently killed in an unfortunate accident whilst helping workmen build a bridge sometime around 1087.
By the year 1220, Whitby Abbey had become one of the wealthiest monasteries in the country, housing dozens of monks. Much of its wealth vanished over the next few
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