Abbeys

Battle Abbey was built on the orders of William the Conqueror, in penance for the bloodshed, on the traditional site of where some of the fiercest fighting during the Battle of Hastings took place on 14th October 1066.  The high altar is supposed to mark the spot where Harold, last King of the English Saxons, fell.  The abbey was dissolved and largely ruined in 1558.  It then became a country house and, later, a school.  The school is still there and not normally open to the public, but the abbey ruins, which include store rooms and wonderful vaulted ceilings, can be visited and there is a particularly fine 14th century gatehouse.

The abbey is managed by English Heritage alongside the battlefield of 1066.

Bolton Abbey is an estate about 6 miles east of Skipton that is owned by the Cavendish family, the Dukes of Devonshire.  Much of it is open to the public (there is a charge for parking), offering the opportunity for a dip in the river in good weather, as well as miles of family-friendly picturesque walks by the riverside and through ancient woodland..  The estate is named for Bolton Priory, which was founded on the banks of the River Wharfe in the 12th century by the Augustinian order, and which was dissolved in 1540.  The ruins of the east end of the abbey church are still there, but the west end is still a functioning church.  The estate includes Bolton Hall (a private residence), Barden Tower (a ruined 16th century hunting lodge), tea rooms and the Devonshire Arms hotel.

The flint ruins of the crossing arch from Creake Abbey’s church are pretty much all that remains of a medieval Augustinian house.  And it’s a sad tale.  The abbey probably began as a small chapel founded in 1206 by Sir Robert and Lady Alice de Nerford. In 1217, they established a hospital of St Bartholomew there, which developed into a priory dedicated to the rule of St Augustine.  A devastating fire in about 1484 left the place much reduced.  Then, early in the 16th century, the plague struck; one by one, the canons died until only the abbot remained.  When he too died, alone on 12 December 1506, the abbey closed.  The cloister and monastic buildings became a private house and the south wall of the old nave is now the garden wall.

Under separate management, Creake Abbey is also home to a small retail complex, with a café, food hall and farmers’ market.

Culross Abbey was founded by Malcolm, earl of Fife in 1217-1218 as a daughter house of the Cistercian monastery at Kinloss. The abbey church was built soon after, with work continuing into the 1300s. The abbey had a reputation for producing fine books, but monastic life came to an end with the Reformation of 1560. The choir and presbytery of the abbey church were taken over as the parish church, but most of the abbey buildings fell into ruin, so little remains. What there is is fascinating, however (including a climb up a ladder into the remains of the vaulted refectory). The church itself is cruciform and contains several items of particular interest. Probably the most impressive is the Bruce Vault, built in 1642, which houses the marble memorial to Sir George Bruce, builder of Culross Palace, and his wife. The memorial includes eight kneeling statues, representing the couple's children, in front of the memorial. There are also the effigies of a knight in armour and a lady, John Stewart of Innermeath, Lord of Lorn, and his wife, dating from 1445 but badly defaced during the Reformation.

There are rumours of ghosts.  And a legend of a tunnel beneath the abbey, where a man in a golden chair sits waiting to give valuable treasures to anyone who succeeds in finding him.

The ruins of Glastonbury Abbey are associated with two famous legends: firstly that Joseph of Arimathea visited Glastonbury in the 1st century AD, planting his staff which grew into a thorn tree and, secondly, that Glastonbury is Avalon and the burial place of King Arthur and his Queen, Guinevere. There is a thorn tree on the site that, it is claimed, descends from Joseph's staff. And there is a grave that purports to be that of Arthur and Guinevere. The abbey is said to date from 7th century; by 1086, it was allegedly the richest monastery in England and, in the 14th century, only Westminster was wealthier. The community was dissolved on the orders of Henry VIII in 1539 and the last abbot, Richard Whiting, was hanged, drawn and quartered on nearby Glastonbury Tor.