Jervaulx Abbey
Encyclopedia
Jervaulx Abbey in East Witton
East Witton
East Witton is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. Located south of Leyburn, it is the resting place of Richard Whiteley; he and his partner Kathryn Apanowicz lived in the village. There is also a West Witton in the Yorkshire Dales...

 near the city of Ripon
Ripon
Ripon is a cathedral city, market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located at the confluence of two streams of the River Ure in the form of the Laver and Skell. The city is noted for its main feature the Ripon Cathedral which is architecturally...

, was one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, England, founded in 1156. Initially a Savigniac foundation, the abbey was later taken over by the Cistercian order and responsibility for it was taken by Byland Abbey
Byland Abbey
Byland Abbey is a ruined abbey and a small village in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England at .-History:It was founded as a Savigniac abbey in January 1135 and was absorbed by the Cistercian order in 1147. It wasn't an easy start for the community who had had to move five times before...

. Originally founded in 1145 at Fors in Wensleydale
Wensleydale
Wensleydale is the valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire, England.Wensleydale lies in the Yorkshire Dales National Park – one of only a few valleys in the Dales not currently named after its principal river , but the older name, "Yoredale", can still be seen...

. It was moved ten years later to a site a few miles away on the banks of the River Ure
River Ure
The River Ure is a river in North Yorkshire, England, approximately long from its source to the point where it changes name to the River Ouse. It is the principal river of Wensleydale, which is the only one of the Dales now named after a village rather than its river...

. It was dissolved
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

 in 1537, and its last abbot Adam Sedbar
Adam Sedbar, Abbot of Jervaulx
Adam Sedbar or Sedbergh was the 23rd and last Abbot of Jervaulx Abbey in Wensleydale, YorkshireAdam Sedbar had been elected abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Jervaulx in 1533 when Henry VIII introduced his plans for the Dissolution of the MonasteriesHe was persuaded in 1536, somewhat reluctantly,...

 was hanged for his part in the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...

. The ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...

 of the abbey are open to the public and is privately owned.

History

In 1145, in the reign of King Stephen, Akarius Fitz Bardolph
Akarius Fitz Bardolph
Akarius Fitz Bardolph, Lord of Ravensworth, was the son of Bardolph an 11th century nobleman living in Richmondshire, the area encompassing the Ure, Tees and Swale valleys in northern England. He was a sub-feudatory of Alan, Earl of Richmond. Akarius gave land at Fors in Wharfedale for the founding...

 who was Lord of Ravensworth
Ravensworth
Ravensworth is a small village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north-west of Richmond and from Darlington. It is situated in the Holmedale valley and is in the ward of Gilling West...

, gave Peter de Quinciano, a monk from Savigny
Savigny Abbey
Savigny Abbey was a monastery near the village of Savigny-le-Vieux , in northern France. It was founded early in the 12th century. Initially it was the central house of the Congregation of Savigny, who were Benedictines; by 1150 it was Cistercian.-History:It was situated on the confines of...

, land at Fors and Worton, in Wensleydale
Wensleydale
Wensleydale is the valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire, England.Wensleydale lies in the Yorkshire Dales National Park – one of only a few valleys in the Dales not currently named after its principal river , but the older name, "Yoredale", can still be seen...

 to build a monastery of their order. The monastery there was successively called the Abbey of Fors, Wensleydale and Charity. Grange, 5 miles WNW of Aysgarth
Aysgarth
Aysgarth is a village and civil parish in Wensleydale, in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, about sixteen miles south-west from Richmond...

, a hamlet in the township of Low Abbotside, in the parish of Aysgarth is the original site of Fors Abbey. After it was abandoned it was known by the name of Dale Grange and now by that of the Grange alone.
Serlo, then Abbot of Savigny, disapproved of the foundation, as it had been made without his knowledge and consent. He refused to supply it with monks from his abbey because of the great difficulties experienced by those he had previously sent into England. He therefore, in a general chapter, proposed that it should be transferred to the Abbey of Belland (Byland) which was closer and would be able to lend the necessary assistance required by the new foundation. Monks were sent from Byland and after undergoing great hardships because of the meagreness of their endowment and sterility of their lands, Conan
Conan IV, Duke of Brittany
Conan IV of Penthièvre , called "the Young", was duke of Brittany, from 1156 to his death. He was son of Alan the Black, 1st Earl of Richmond and Bertha of Brittany. He was his mother's heir as Duke Conan III...

, son to Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond, greatly increased their revenues and, in 1156, removed their monastery to a better location in East Witton, the present situation. Here the monks erected a new church and monastery, which, like most of the Cistercian order, was dedicated to St Mary. At the height of its prosperity the abbey owned half of the valley and was renowned for breeding horses, a tradition that remains in the area to the present day. It was also the original home of Wensleydale cheese. In 1279 Abbot Philip of Jervaulx was murdered by one of his monks.
His successor, Abbot Thomas, was initially accused of the crime, but a jury later determined that he was not to blame.
According to John Speed
John Speed
John Speed was an English historian and cartographer.-Life:He was born at Farndon, Cheshire, and went into his father's tailoring business where he worked until he was about 50...

, at the dissolution it was valued at £455 10s. 5d. The last abbot, Adam Sedbergh, joined the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...

, and suffered death by hanging at Tyburn in June 1537, when the monastic property was forfeited to the king.

Post Reformation

The standing remains of the abbey include part of the church and claustral buildings, as well as a watermill; the pulpitum screen with part of the stalls can now be seen in Aysgarth
Aysgarth
Aysgarth is a village and civil parish in Wensleydale, in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, about sixteen miles south-west from Richmond...

 Church. The lordship of East Witton, with the site of the abbey, was granted by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 to Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and Margaret
Margaret Douglas
Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox was the daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and Margaret Tudor, Queen Dowager of Scotland...

, his wife, the king's niece, and after passing through various hands, the property came into the possession of the Bruce family, one of whom was created Earl of Ailesbury in 1805. The estate was purchased from the trustees of Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury
Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury
Ernest Augustus Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury PC , styled Lord Ernest Bruce from 1821 until 1878, was a British courtier and politician. He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household between 1841 and 1846 and again between 1852 and 1858...

, in 1887, by S. Cunliffe Lister, Esq. of Swinton Park, for £310,000.
It was purchased by its present owners in 1971.

External links

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