Whitby Abbey |
The important abbey was also the site of the Synod which gathered in 664AD and decided the date for Easter in Britain, choosing the Roman traditions over the Celtic practices.
Visitors may choose to approach it by climbing the 199 steep steps from the town or take the gentler walk from the car park to the south of the abbey, passing the abbey pond along the way.
The abbey became a gathering place for both monks and nuns, including the early English-language poet, Caedmon.
After the death of Hild she was granted sainthood and her relics attracted many pilgrims.
The financial donations from these visitors allowed the abbey to prosper.
When the Vikings invaded the town in 867 the abbey was destroyed.
It was some time before the Benedictine Abbey was refounded by Reinfrid, a knight of William the Conqueror, in the late 1070s.
The Norman Church was quickly outgrown with the pressure of many visiting pilgrims to St Hilda's shrine and in the 1220s building of the larger and grander Abbey began.
The interior of the choir would have been painted in rich colours and the windows glazed with stained glass. All that remains is the elaborate stone carving on the surviving walls.
Whitby Abbey flourished until Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries Act and the abbey was left in a state of ruin. However, it was apparently not destroyed as much as other abbeys as it was an important landmark for shipping navigation.
In the 18th century Whitby was a popular haunt of artists and engravers. They used the landmark ruins in their work, which in part assured the abbey's continued preservation
Visitors to Whitby Abbey can appreciate the early Gothic architecture in the roofless nave and soaring south transept. To the east of the abbey are Anglo-Saxon tombstones in a shallow ditch close to the remnants of the early abbey of St Hild.
Enjoy the audio-visual displays of the history of this medieval abbey and the recreation of the grand house and gardens which once graced this site.
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Whitby Abbey Postcode for SatNav: YO22 4JT
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Days Out near Whitby Abbey
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Captain Cook Memorial Museum (<1 Mile)*
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Roseberry Topping (7 Miles)*
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Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum (12 Miles)*
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Scarborough Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary (15 Miles)*
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Scarborough Castle (16 Miles)*
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Scarborough Art Gallery (16 Miles)*
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Beck Isle Museum of Rural Life (17 Miles)*
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North Yorkshire Moors Railway (17 Miles)*
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Zetland Museum (20 Miles)*
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Flamingo Land Theme Park and Zoo (20 Miles)*
Places to Visit near Whitby Abbey
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Whitby (1 Mile)*
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Sandsend (2 Miles)*
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Hinderwell (7 Miles)*
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Lealholm (9 Miles)*
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Skinningrove (11 Miles)*
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Castleton (13 Miles)*
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Scarborough (16 Miles)*
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Saltburn-by-the-Sea (16 Miles)*
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Pickering (17 Miles)*
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Thornton-le-Dale (18 Miles)*
Also near Whitby Abbey |
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