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BYLAND ABBEY

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The remains of the church and claustral ranges of the Cistercian abbey of St Mary, re-founded at Byland in 1177 and dissolved in 1538. The abbey was originally founded at Calder (UID 8654) in Cumbria in 1134 as a daughter house of the Savigniac Furness Abbey, but the monks fled Calder in 1538, and after temporary homes at Hood (57371), Old Byland (57157) and Stocking (57386) - where in 1147 they were received into the Cistercian order along with the rest of the Savigniac congregation - finally settled at Byland. The extensive ruins are of typical Cistercian plan. The earliest are those of the lay-brothers' quarters, which date from c 1155. The church is of early Gothic style, and except for parts of the nave and the remains of an early 13th-century wheel window in the west front, is of late 12th-century date. Building work was mostly complete by c 1200 although later additions include a 15th-century meat kitchen and an abbot's lodging (1546365) of 13th-century and later date south of the east range. The church lay at the heart of an exceptionally large precinct (1546052) of about 50ha, entered in the west through an inner gatehouse (1502018) that is still partly extant. The sites of a number of other monastic buildings survive as earthworks within the precinct or are hinted at in documents, including a guesthouse (1543083), dovecote (1543095) and watermill (1543327); another monastic watermill (1543395) lies just outside. The abbey was served by an extensive network of dams (eg 1503164, 1503166) and leats (eg 927304, 1543300, 1543383), draining the precinct and surrounding land, protecting it against floods and re-introducing water in a controlled manner. Two monastic fishponds (56865, 1533220) and a deer park (56882) lie just outside the precinct. A number of small quarries (eg 927358) have been said to be the source of the abbey's building stone, but the constructional stone most likely came from quarries 1.5km away on Wass Bank (1538727). Scheduled.

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(SE 54957895) Remains of (NAT) Byland Abbey (NR)
(Cistercian. Founded circa A.D. 1177) (NAT)
Gateway (NR)
Gateway (NR) (Remains of)
See MOW Guide. (1)

As described. Divorced survey at 1:2500. (2)

No change to description. Survey transferred to 1:2500 MSD. (3)

Byland Abbey founded 1177, dissolved 1539. Land near Whitaker (i.e. the present site of Byland Abbey) was cleared and drained while the monastic community was in temporary residence at Stocking (SE 58 SW 41) from 1147 to 1177. In 1177 the monks moved to the present abbey which from the extent of the buildings appears to have been intended for some 36 monks and 100 lay brothers. At the suppression in 1539 there were 25 monks beside the abbot. (4)

Byland Abbey and Abbey Gateway. Grade 1. (5)

Cistercian monastery of St Mary, founded 1177 by the formerly Savigniac monks of of Old Byland, who had moved to Stocking in 1147 and become Cistercian before moving again to Byland. The abbey was dissolved in 1539 and its lands were granted to Sir William Pickering. The earliest remains of the of the monastery are the lay-brothers quarters which formed the west part of the cloister, the church is of late cistercian type. Most building at the abbey appears to have been completed by c 1200 and any subsequent work was in minor alterations or additions. Scheduled. (6)

Byland Abbey. Abbey church and monastic buildings. Now ruinous. Late 12th, early 13th and 15th centuries. Grade 1. (7)

Architectural description.
The convent moved to this its final site in 1147, to what was described as "Two carucates of waste land in the territory of Cukwald". Massive drainage operations were necessary to make the site habitable. It was occupied in 1177. At the suppression it was worth £295. There were 25 monks. (8)

See SMR records for further description and bibliographic sources for: Lay Brother's range, kitchen, refectory, warming house, cellarium, infirmary, dormitory, day room, reredorter, Abbot's lodging, parlour, chapter house, library, vestry, cloister, cemetery and gatehouse. (9)

SE 5496 7891. Byland Abbey Cistercian monastery: monastic precinct, water management earthworks, enclosures, ancilliary buildings and quarries. Scheduled RSM Number 13279. (10)

Additional references. (11-18)

Conservation statement. (19)

The website of the Cistercians in Yorkshire Project notes that initially the abbey was founded in 1134 as a "Savigniac" House, named after a hermitage in the French of Savigny Forest; in 1147 this order was voluntarily absorbed into the Cistercians. The website includes an overview of the history of Byland Abbey and features sections on the individual building remains. There are also multi media tours of the site. A further section deals with the lands of the abbey. There is also a useful glossary of terminology relating to the monastic orders and their architecture. (20)

The community started life in 1134 at Calder (NY 00 NE 9) on the Cumbrian coast as a daughter house of Furness Abbey which was then of the Savigniac order. In 1138, however, a Scottish invasion of northern England forced the monks to abandon Calder and, having been refused readmittance to Furness, travel east in search of a new home. They first settled at Hood (SE 58 SW 32) in North Yorkshire on land granted to them by Gundreda d'Aubigny and her son, Roger de Mowbray, but in 1142 moved to Byland, subsequently called Old Byland (SE 58 NE 16), and then again in 1147 to a place called Stocking or Oldstead (SE 58 SW 41). It was in this year that the Savigniac congregation of churches were incorporated into the Cistercian order. Whilst at Oldstead, the monks began draining and preparing a fifth site nearby, which they christened Byland. The community finally moved to the new site in 1177, although that date marks the year when the choir monks moved into their new church and not the start of building work at the site (21a, 21b). Fergusson (21c) has suggested that construction of the lay-brothers range, for example, began as early as c 1155; the church, barely started in 1177, was not completed until the 1190s, and was erected around a temporary church that was progressively demolished as parts of the new church were completed. A number of small quarries (eg SE 57 NE 28) have been said to be the source of the abbey's building stone, but the constructional stone most likely came from quarries 1.5km away on Wass Bank (SE 57 NE 138).

The church lay at the heart of an exceptionally large precinct (SE 57 NW 132) of about 50ha, entered in the west through an inner gatehouse (SE 57 NW 112) that survives as a mixture of ruined walls, earthworks and sub-surface remains. The sites of a number of other monastic buildings also survive as slight earthworks within the precinct or are hinted at in documents (21d and 21e), including a guesthouse (SE 57 NW 125), dovecote (SE 57 NW 126), water-powered cornmill (SE 57 NW 129) and further buildings of unknown function (SE 57 NW 116, 122-4 and 127); a second monastic watermill, a fulling mill (SE 57 NW 131), also lies just outside the precinct at Low Pasture Farm. There do not seem to have been any fishponds within the precinct; instead two large fishponds (SE 57 NW 14 and 119) were created by damming the Wakendale Beck c2km west of the precinct. Other alleged fishponds immediately outside the precinct are more probably post-medieval quarrying (SE 57 NW 120). In 1380 the abbot was granted licence for a 100-acre deer park (SE 57 NW 23); field-name evidence suggests this lay immediately east of the precinct and partly overlapped with it.

Survey has demonstrated that the more elevated parts of the precinct had in fact been cultivated before the monks' arrival (SE 57 NW 117 and SE 57 NE 133), while the more low-lying areas were probably bog and carr. The abbey was therefore served by an extensive network of dams (SE 57 NW 113-14) and leats (SE 57 NW 128 and 130 and SE 57 NE 27 and 140), draining the precinct and surrounding land, protecting it against floods, and re-introducing water in a controlled manner for drinking, sanitation and the powering of mills. There is doubt over the correct identification of two other alleged dams within the precinct (SE 57 NW 115 and SE 57 NE 132); the former is more probably a post-medieval prospect mound.

The community remained at Byland for over three and a half centuries until suppressed in 1538 (21f, contra authority 4). Soon after, the site was sold by the Crown to one Sir William Pickering and subsequently descended through the Wotton, Stapylton and Wombwell families. A survey taken at the Dissolution states that the estate included 'edifices sufficient for a fermar' (21d). Later map evidence (21e) suggests the buildings identified as suitable for conversion were in fact the abbot's lodgings (SE 57 NE 141) and that the status of the post-Dissolution house may, at least initially, have been higher than a simple farmhouse.

Investigated as part of the EH: Byland Abbey Survey. The layout of the church and cloister, however, was not re-surveyed but copied from an existing survey reproduced in the EH guidebook. See plans and report (21g) in the NMR for further information. (21)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6", 1910-1950

( 2) Field Investigators Comments

Field Investigator, ISS, 19-JUN-1974

( 3) Field Investigators Comments

Field Investigator, AJT, 11-NOV-1976

( 4) by David Knowles and R Neville Hadcock 1971 Medieval religious houses in England and Wales

Page(s)112, 116-7

( 5) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

Helmsley Rural District, DEC-1948 (Provisional List) Page(s)3

(6) Scheduled Monument Notification

20-JUL-1992

(7) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

Ryedale, 11-DEC-1985 Page(s)12, 14

(8) by Nikolaus Pevsner 1966 Yorkshire, the North Riding

The Buildings of England Page(s)94-101

(9) Field Investigators Comments

Susan Brook/11-OCT-1994/RCHME/NYCC: Howardian Hills Project

(10) Scheduled Monument Notification

20-JUL-1992

(11) by the late Sir Charles Peers 1970 Byland Abbey, Yorkshire

(12) by the late Sir Charles Peers 1952 Byland Abbey, Yorkshire

(13) by the late Sir Charles Peers 1976 Byland Abbey, Yorkshire

(14) By Stuart Harrison and Paul Barker Byland Abbey, North Yorkshire: The West Front and Rose Window reconstructed

Journal of the British Archaeological AssociationVol 129 (1976) - 140, 1987 Page(s)134-51

(15) by S A Harrison 1986 The stonework of Byland Abbey

Ryedale historianno 1 (Apr 1965) - 13 Page(s)26-47

(16) by Peter Fergusson 1975 The south transept elevation of Byland Abbey

Journal of the British Archaeological AssociationVol 1 (1846) - vol 50 (1894) 38 Page(s)155-176

(17) by Stuart A Harrison 1990 Byland Abbey, North Yorkshire

(18) by F J Banks 1990 Monastic agriculture: a farmer's view, with special reference to Byland Abbey

Ryedale historianno 1 (Apr 1965) - 15 Page(s)16-20

(19) English Heritage Yorkshire Region Conservation Statements

Byland Abbey, Oct-2002

(20) World Wide Web page

The Cistercians in Yorkshire Project .Undated. 'The Cistercians in Yorkshire: Byland Abbey' http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/byland/ [Accessed 02/02/2010]

(21) Field Investigators Comments

Marcus Jecock/25-OCT-2010/EH: Byland Abbey Survey

(21A) General reference

Burton, J 2004, The Cartulary of Byland Abbey, Pub Surtees Soc, 208

(21B) General reference

Burton, J 2006, The Foundation History of the Abbeys of Byland and Jervaulx

(21C) General reference

Fergusson, P 1984, Architecture of Solitude: Cistercian Abbeys in Twelfth-Century England

(21D) General reference

Dugdale, W 1970, Monasticon Anglicanum vol 5, 354

(21E) Externally held archive reference

Ampleforth Abbey BX27-1. 18th-century estate map of Wass, Byland and Oldstead

(21F) General reference

Gairdner, J (ed) 1893, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, vol 13 part II: 1538, 392

(21G) General reference

Jecock, M, Burn, A, Brown, G and Oswald, A 2011, Byland Abbey, Ryedale, North Yorkshire. Archaeological Survey and Investigation of Part of the Precinct and Extra-Mural Area (RDRS 4-2011)

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Fragmentary earthwork remains of a furlong of ridge-and-furrow ploughing pre-dating the laying out of the precinct at Byland Abbey around the middle o...

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A group of two earthwork building platforms attached to the inside of the western precinct wall of Byland Abbey probably represent a complex of monast...

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Abbot's lodging house at Byland Abbey. Reused as a post-medieval residence for 200 years or so after the Dissolution until c 1730.

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