A History of the Medieval Abbey of Byland
Byland Abbey – a Cistercian House in North Yorkshire
Nov 24, 2008
Byland Abbey is a quiet monastic ruin, set in a beautiful wooded valley. Yet, its peaceful appearance belies its interesting and sometimes turbulent history.
The Foundation of Byland Abbey
Like most Cistercian houses, Byland was set in a stunning valley with a good water supply. The Cistercian order thrived in the North of England during medieval times and the Cistercians found that scenic sites and eager recruits and patrons were easy to find in the North of England.
Despite its stunning setting, the monastic community actually moved five times before settling at their final site. They had a stormy few first years and became embroiled in disputes with several neighbouring monastic houses, including Furness Abbey and Newburgh Priory.
However, once the disputes were settled, Byland became one of the most successful monastic communities in the north of England and was particularly noted for sheep rearing; one of the greatest commercial strengths of the Cistercian Order.
The Monastic Buildings at Byland Abbey
Perhaps because the monastic community had endured so much upheaval, the buildings at Byland were almost completed before the monks moved on to the site. The church and its associated buildings covered an area of around ten acres.
The monks were able to be more or less self-sufficient, supported largely by the efforts of the monastery’s lay brothers, who worked on the pasture, orchard and ponds on the monastery’s site.
The lay brothers occupied separate quarters, which were on the Western range of the monastery and these buildings were among the first to be constructed, probably to allow the lay brothers to occupy the site and prepare the rest of the monastery for the arrival of the monks.
The monastery church is 100 metres long and, as such, was one of the largest abbey churches in Europe. The church was particularly noted for its huge rose window.
Abbot Roger of Byland Abbey
Much of Byland’s early history was shaped and dominated by the Abbey’s abbot, a man named Robert who was to preside over the community for fifty years. It was he who encouraged his monks to move to Byland and who attracted a number of powerful patrons, including Roger de Mowbray. Such wealthy and influential men granted land, resources and support to the community and enabled the community to carry out farming and trading on a large scale. Byland Abbey lands stretched as far as Cumbria and Teeside at the height of the monastery’s influence.
Byland Abbey and the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Like many small communities in northern England, Byland Abbey was particularly hard hit by the Black Death. The epidemics of the fourteenth century cut the abbey’s population from around 240, to just fourteen.
Investigators for the Dissolution of the Monasteries arrived at Byland in February 1535. Three years later, when all the formalities were complete, less than twenty monks were present as the abbey was formally surrendered to the Crown.
Like so many of England’s monasteries, Byland gradually fell into disrepair and the monastic buildings were gradually plundered for use in other building projects in the area. However, the monastery’s remains are substantial and medieval floor tiles and a portion of the rose window still survive, to give visitors a tantalising glimpse of what it would have been like to see one of England’s finest abbeys in its medieval heyday.
Source
Freethy, Ron Northern Abbeys [Countryside Publications, 1986]
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