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Last modified:
November 13, 2004
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Tour the Western
Moors for Priories and Abbeys
Helmsley with it's
Castle
is located on the west flank of the North Yorkshire Moors date back to the 12th
Century, the large market square has plenty of accommodation to help you visit
the Ryedale and into the moors
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Heading
west from Helmsley to
Rievaulx where the Cistercian monks from France built their first abbey
in Yorkshire, by the wooded river in the Rye Valley in 1131.
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It eventually housed
over 600 Monks and brothers which declined in the 14th Century until there
were only 22 when the monasteries were dissolved in 1539. The National Trust
maintain it and the Terraces behind the abbey which were landscaped in the
28th Century to improve the view from Duncombe Park across the valley.
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Rising from the valley onto the
Hambleton Hills from where a 360 degree panoramic view is to be found on a
clear day, before dropping back down Sutton Bank to Kilburn stop at the
White Horse car park at the top for another spectacular view to the west.
Travellers from the west to Sutton Bank can see the White Horse on the
hillside for miles.
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Kilburn was the home of Robert
(Mousey)
Thompson a wood carver of fame his work can be found in hundreds of churches
throughout the land, including Westminster Abbey in London. The surface of
his work has a rippled finish which is produced by an adze and is confirmed
by the carving of the Church Mouse on each piece he made. His workshop has
remained in business since he died in 1955 and all the craftsmen still carve
the mouse to identify their work and it's origin.
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Byland Abbey |
Continuing through to Coxwold a
15th Century one street village where Lawrence Sterne was vicar in the 18th
Century and wrote Tristram Shandy at Shandy Hall his home. Newburgh Priory a
Elizabethan mansion nearby is claimed to be the resting place of Oliver
Cromwell.
Heading back towards Helmsley via
Wass we pass Byland Abbey
which was built in 1134 and maintained by English
Heritage. It has one of the largest cloisters in England
and excavation has recovered thirteenth-century floor tiles.
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