Whitby Abbey was a 7th-century Christian

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

that later became a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The c ...

. The abbey church was situated overlooking the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

on the East Cliff above

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Cl ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

, England, a centre of the medieval

Northumbrian kingdom Northumbria, a kingdom of Angles, in what is now northern England and south-east Scotland, was initially divided into two kingdoms: Bernicia and Deira. The two were first united by king Æthelfrith around the year 604, and except for occasiona ...

. The abbey and its possessions were confiscated by the crown under

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

during the Dissolution of the Monasteries between 1536 and 1545. Since that time, the ruins of the abbey have continued to be used by sailors as a landmark at the headland. Since the 20th century, the substantial

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

of the church have been declared a Grade I

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

and are in the care of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

; the site museum is housed in Cholmley House.

Streoneshalh

The first monastery was founded in 657 AD by the Anglo-Saxon era King of Northumbria,

Oswy Oswiu, also known as Oswy or Oswig ( ang, Ōswīg; c. 612 – 15 February 670), was King of Bernicia from 642 and of Northumbria from 654 until his death. He is notable for his role at the Synod of Whitby in 664, which ultimately brought the chur ...

(Oswiu) as Streoneshalh (the older name for Whitby). He appointed Lady Hilda, abbess of

Hartlepool Abbey Hartlepool Abbey, also known as Heretu Abbey, Hereteu Abbey, Heorthu Abbey or Herutey Abbey, was a Northumbrian monastery founded in 640 CE by Hieu, the first of the saintly recluses of Northumbria,Bede, '' Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Angl ...

and grand-niece of

Edwin The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures. People * Edwin of Northumbria (die ...

, the first Christian king of Northumbria, as founding abbess. The name Streoneshalh is thought to signify ''Fort Bay'' or ''Tower Bay'', in reference to a supposed

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

settlement that previously existed on the site. This contention has never been proven and alternative theories have been proposed, such as the name meaning ''Streona's settlement''. Some believe that the name referred to Eadric Streona, but Streona died in 1017 so the naming of Streoneshalh would have preceded his birth by several hundred years. The double monastery of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

monks and nuns was home (614–680) to the great

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

n poet

Cædmon Cædmon (; ''fl. c.'' 657 – 684) is the earliest English poet whose name is known. A Northumbrian cowherd who cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch (now known as Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy of St. Hilda, he w ...

.Huddleston, Gilbert. "Abbey of Whitby." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 2 February 2020 In 664 the

Synod of Whitby In the Synod of Whitby in 664, King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome rather than the customs practiced by Irish monks at Iona and its satellite ins ...

took place at the monastery to resolve the question of whether the Northumbrian church would adopt and follow Celtic Christian traditions or adopt Roman practice, including the manner of calculating the date of Easter and form of the monastic

tonsure Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice i ...

. The decision, with the support of

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

, was for adopting Roman practices and the date of Easter was set. Streoneshalch monastery was laid waste by Danes in successive raids between 867 and 870 under Ingwar and Ubba and remained desolate for more than 200 years. A locality named 'Prestebi' was recorded in the

Domesday Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

Survey, which may be a sign that religious life was revived in some form after the Danish raids. In

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

, this name means a habitation of priests. The old monastery given to Reinfrid comprised about 40 ruined ''monasteria vel oratoria'', similar to Irish monastic ruins with numerous chapels and cells.

Whitby

Reinfrid, a soldier of

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

, became a monk and traveled to Streoneshalh, which was then known as ''Prestebi'' or ''Hwitebi'' (the "white settlement" in Old Norse). He approached

William de Percy William I (Willame) de Percy (d.1096/9), 1st feudal baron of Topcliffe in North Yorkshire,Sanders, I.J., English Baronies, Oxford, 1960, p.148 known as ''Willame als gernons'' (meaning "with whiskers"), was a French nobleman who arrived in Englan ...

for a grant of land, who gave him the ruined monastery of

St. Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

with two

carucate The carucate or carrucate ( lat-med, carrūcāta or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms ...

s of land, to found a new monastery. Serlo de Percy, the founder's brother, joined Reinfrid at the new monastery, which followed the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

rule. The greater part of de Percy's building was pulled down and the monastery was rebuilt on a larger scale in the 1220s. The Benedictine abbey thrived for centuries as a centre of learning. This second monastery was destroyed by

in 1540 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The abbey was bought by Sir Richard Cholmley. It remained in the Cholmley family and their descendants, the Strickland family. The Strickland family passed it to the UK government in 1920. The ruins are now owned and maintained by

. In December 1914, Whitby Abbey was shelled by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...

s ''Von der Tann'' and ''Derfflinger'', whose crew "were aiming for the Coastguard Station on the end of the headland." Scarborough and

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County D ...

were also attacked. The abbey buildings sustained considerable damage during the ten-minute attack.

Abbey possessions

The original gift of William de Percy included not only the monastery of St. Peter at Streoneshalch, but the town and port of Whitby, with its parish church of St Mary and six dependent chapels at Fyling,

Hawsker Hawsker is the name for the combined villages of High and Low Hawsker that straddle the A171 road south east of Whitby, in North Yorkshire, England. History The name Hawsker derives from Old Norse and means Haukr's enclosure. The settlement w ...

Sneaton Sneaton is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. There is a church which is dedicated to St Hilda. According to the 2011 UK census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken ever ...

, Ugglebarnby, Dunsley, and Aislaby; five mills including Ruswarp; the village of

Hackness Hackness is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of the county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies within the North York Moors National Park. The parish population rose from 125 in the 2001 UK census to 221 in the 2011 UK c ...

with two mills and the parish church of St. Mary; and the church of St Peter at Hackness, "where our monks served God, died, and were buried," and various other gifts enumerated in the Memorial in the abbot's book.

Priors and abbots

The first prior of the reestablished monastery, Reinfrid, ruled for many years before being killed in an accident. He was buried at St Peter's at Hackness, now in

. He was succeeded as prior by Serlo de Percy.

''Dracula''

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busi ...

's 1897 novel ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taki ...

'' featured

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some ...

as a creature resembling a large dog which came ashore at the headland and runs up the 199 steps to the graveyard of St Mary's Church in the shadow of the Whitby Abbey ruins. The abbey is also described in

Mina Harker Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker (née Murray) is a fictional character and the main female character in Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. In the novel She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young schoolmistress who is engaged t ...

’s diary in the novel:

Gallery

Notable burials

Hilda of Whitby Hilda (or Hild) of Whitby (c. 614 – 680) was a Christian saint and the founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby, which was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby in 664. An important figure in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon Engla ...

Bosa of York __NOTOC__ Bosa (died 705) was an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of York during the 7th and early 8th centuries. He was educated at Whitby Abbey, where he became a monk. Following Wilfrid's removal from York in 678 the diocese was divided into three, le ...

Edwin of Deira Edwin ( ang, Ēadwine; c. 586 – 12 October 632/633), also known as Eadwine or Æduinus, was the King of Deira and Bernicia – which later became known as Northumbria – from about 616 until his death. He converted to Christia ...

, King of Deira and Bernicia, and a

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...

Oswiu of Northumbria Oswiu, also known as Oswy or Oswig ( ang, Ōswīg; c. 612 – 15 February 670), was King of Bernicia from 642 and of Northumbria from 654 until his death. He is notable for his role at the Synod of Whitby in 664, which ultimately brought the ch ...

, a King of Bernicia * Eahlfrith, widow of King Oswiu and

Abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Copt ...

of Whitby * Ælfflæd of Whitby, daughter of Oswiu and Eanflæd, also an Abbess of Whitby * Joscelin of Louvain * Sir William de Percy, 1st Baron Percy (died c. 1096), Norman baron and Crusader * Sir

Richard de Percy Sir Richard de Percy (c. 1170–1244), 5th Baron Percy, was a Magnate from the North of England, and a participant in the First Barons' War. He was the son of Agnes de Perci, ''suo jure'' Baroness Percy, the heiress of the Percy estates, and her ...

, 5th Baron Percy (1166–1243), signatory to

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...

Footnotes

References

English Heritage official site
*

External links

* {{Authority control Whitby 7th-century establishments in England Anglo-Saxon monastic houses 860s disestablishments 1540 disestablishments in England Benedictine monasteries in England Christian monasteries established in the 7th century Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Churches in North Yorkshire Double monasteries Dracula in written fiction English Heritage sites in North Yorkshire Grade I listed churches in North Yorkshire History of North Yorkshire Monasteries in North Yorkshire Ruined abbeys and monasteries Ruins in North Yorkshire Grade I listed monasteries Grade I listed ruins Burial sites of the House of Kent Burial sites of the Royal House of Northumbria Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation Churches completed in 657 7th-century church buildings in England