Bolton Abbey in Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, England, takes its name from the ruins of the 12th-century

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

monastery now known as Bolton Priory. The priory, closed in the 1539 Dissolution of the Monasteries ordered by King Henry VIII, is in the Yorkshire Dales, next to the village of Bolton Abbey. The estate is open to visitors, and includes many miles of all-weather walking routes. The

Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway The Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway (E&BASR) is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, formed in 1979 and opened in 1981. The preserved railway was part of the former Midland Railway route from Skipton to Ilkley which was cl ...

terminates at Bolton Abbey station one and a half miles/2.5 km from Bolton Priory.

Bolton Priory

The monastery was founded at

Embsay Embsay is a village in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is paired with the neighbouring hamlet of Eastby to form the civil parish of Embsay with Eastby. The parish population as of the 2011 census was 1,871. Geography At the ...

in 1120. Led by a

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

, Bolton Abbey was technically a priory, despite its name. It was founded in 1154 by the

order, on the banks of the

River Wharfe The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale. ...

. The land at Bolton, as well as other resources, were given to the order by Lady Alice de Romille of

Skipton Castle Skipton Castle is a Grade I Listed medieval castle in Skipton, North Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1090 by Robert de Romille, a Norman baron, and has been preserved for over 931 years. History The castle was originally a motte and bai ...

in 1154. In the early 14th century Scottish raiders caused the temporary abandonment of the site and serious structural damage to the priory. The seal of the priory featured the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

and the Child and the phrase ''sigillum sancte Marie de Bolton''. The nave of the abbey church was in use as a parish church from about 1170 onwards, and survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Building work was still going on at the abbey when the Dissolution of the Monasteries resulted in the termination of the priory in January 1540. The east end remains in ruins. A tower, begun in 1520, was left half-standing, and its base was later given a bell-turret and converted into an entrance porch. Most of the remaining church is in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style of architecture, but more work was done in the Victorian era, including windows by

August Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

. It still functions as a church today, holding services on Sundays and religious holidays. Bolton Abbey churchyard contains the war grave of a

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

officer of the First World War. The churchyard also has the grave of cricketer Fred Trueman.

Bolton Abbey Estate

The Domesday Book lists Bolton Abbey as the caput manor of a multiple estate including 77 carucates of ploughland (around 9240 acres/3850 ha) belonging to Edwin, Earl of Mercia. The estate then comprised Bolton Abbey,

Halton East Halton East is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, east of Skipton. The population of the parish was estimated at 90 in 2015. The place was first recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Haltone''. The name is derived from the ...

, Draughton; Skibeden, Skipton, Low Snaygill, Thorlby;

Addingham Addingham (formerly Haddincham , Odingehem 1086)Mills, A.D. (2003). ', Encyclopedia.com is a village and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated near the A65, south-east of Skipton, west of Ilkley, ...

Beamsley Beamsley is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is just within the boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and about six miles east of Skipton and two miles north of Addingham. The village ...

, Holme, Gargrave; Stainton, Otterburn,

Scosthrop Scosthrop is a civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. The population as taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of Kirkby Malham. The Meaning of Liff ''The Meaning ...

, Malham, Anley;

Coniston Cold Coniston Cold is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the Staincliffe Wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the village lies north-west of Skipton along the A65. According ...

, Hellifield and Hanlith. They were all laid waste in the

Harrying of the North The Harrying of the North was a series of campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate northern England, where the presence of the last House of Wessex, Wessex claimant, Edgar Ætheling, had encouraged An ...

after the defeat of the rebellion of Edwin, Earl of Mercia and classified as the ''Clamores'' (disputed land) of Yorkshire until around 1090, when they were transferred to Robert de Romille, who moved its administrative centre to

. The Romille line died out around 1310, and

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...

granted the estates to Robert Clifford.Whitaker, Thomas Dunham (2012) 805 The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven in the County of York (new ed.). London: British Library. pp. 8. . In 1748 Baroness Clifford married William Cavendish and Bolton Abbey Estate thereafter belonged to the Dukes of Devonshire, until a trust was set up by the 11th Duke of Devonshire turning it over to the Chatsworth Settlement Trustees to steward. Today, the 33,000 acre (134 km²) estate contains six areas designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, including Strid Wood, an ancient woodland (mainly oak), which contains the length of the

known as The Strid, and a marine fossil quarry. The estate encompasses 8 miles (13 km) of river, 84 farms, 84 buildings of architectural interest, and four

Grade I listed 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 Irel ...

buildings; and is currently home to 27 businesses from tearooms to bookshops. The iconic stepping stones cross the River Wharfe near the Abbey ruins. The estate includes extensive grouse moors, including Barden Moor on the west side of Wharfedale and Barden Fell on the east side of the dale. There is also a pheasant shoot. Apart from people employed within these businesses, the estate employs about 120 staff to work on the upkeep of the estate. Much of the estate is open to the public. A charge is made for car parking. The Dales Way passes through the estate on a

permissive path In England and Wales, other than in the 12 Inner London boroughs and the City of London, the right of way is a legally protected right of the public to pass and re-pass on specific paths. The law in England and Wales differs from Scots law in ...

. Barden Moor and Barden Fell, which includes the prominent crag of

Simon's Seat Simon's Seat is a peak in the Yorkshire Dales in northern England. It is a prominent outcrop of millstone grit on the eastern side of Wharfedale. Although only high, the extensive views from the summit make it a popular destination for walker ...

, are on

access land The freedom to roam, or "everyman's right", is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wilderness ...

, and permissive paths lead up to the moors. Access to the moors may be closed to the public during the shooting season. Bolton Abbey Hall, originally the gatehouse of the priory, was converted into a house by the Cavendish family. The hall is a

Grade II* listed 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 Irel ...

building. As well as Bolton Abbey, the Cavendish family also own the Chatsworth (Derbyshire, England) and Lismore Castle (Waterford, in the Republic of Ireland) estates. In the early nineteenth century, a cow known as the

Craven Heifer Craven Heifer (1807–1812) was a cow which lived in the early 19th century, and to this day remains the largest cow ever shown in England: weight , length nose to tip of rump , height at the shoulder , thickest girth . Craven Heifer was bred b ...

was bred on the Bolton Abbey estate. Weighing 312 stone (1.98 tonnes), and measuring 11 ft 4ins in length and over 7 ft in height, she to this day remains Britain's largest ever cow.

The Priory Church

The Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert, Bolton Abbey, is an active Church of England church, serving the village and parish of Bolton Abbey, with a full calendar of liturgical events, and a full-time rector who lives in the adjacent Rectory. The current church is the surviving part of the otherwise ruined 12th-century

religious community originally known as Bolton. It is situated in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, within the Bolton Abbey estate.

Bolton Abbey in culture

The remains of the priory can still be seen, and the setting is immortalised in both art and poetry. These include a painting by Edwin Landseer and watercolours by

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...

one of which, ''Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire'' (1809), is held at the British Museum. The young Brontë sisters are believed to have visited the estate while Landseer was in residence. (Researching for his painting ''Bolton Abbey in Olden Times'', the young authors were escorted on an exclusive guided tour by an unnamed 'E'.) The following year Charlotte Brontë exhibited a drawing 'Bolton Abbey' alongside stars of the day at the Royal Northern Festival of Arts, Leeds. When first discovered by Jane Sellars and Christine Alexander in 1994, it was thought based on Turner's view of 1809, but further research, and detail of a drifting heron relates the drawing more closely to Landseer's oil-sketch of the same scene, which shows a heron drifting toward Charlotte's reciprocal bird, as if to embrace. Landseer's sketch was never exhibited or reproduced, it reiterates therefore that the Brontës met the influential artist in 1833. William Wordsworth's poem ''

The White Doe of Rylstone ''The White Doe of Rylstone; or, The Fate of the Nortons'' is a long narrative poem by William Wordsworth, written initially in 1807–08, but not finally revised and published until 1815. It is set during the Rising of the North in 1569, and com ...

'' was inspired by a visit to Bolton Abbey in 1807. *In

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...

's '' Lady Anna'' (1874), an excursion is made to Wharfedale, and a dramatic incident takes place on the banks of the river that encircles the Abbey. *Characters played by Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts picnic at Bolton Abbey in the 1963 film '' This Sporting Life''. *In episode 6 of the BBC series '' The Trip'', Bolton Abbey is visited. *A blurred photo of the Abbey is used for the cover of '' Faith'' by The Cure, an album from 1981, with the picture taken by Andy Vella. *The 1985 music video for the Love and Rockets song "If There's A Heaven Above" was filmed at Bolton Abbey. *The

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

series '' Gunpowder'' (2017) used Bolton Abbey as a location.

Gallery

Image:The ruins of Bolton Abbey.jpg Image:Bolton Priory, 2010.jpg Image:Bolton Abbey 9.jpg Image:Bolton Priory Church windows.jpg, Stained glass windows of the Priory Church Image:BoltonAbbey02.JPG Image:BoltonPriory01.JPG Image:BoltonPriory Interior.JPG Image:Strid water 8.jpg, Walker's view of Strid Wood File:Priory_of_St_Mary,_north_and_north-west_façades,_Bolton_Abbey.jpg File:Stepping stones and Bolton Abbey - panoramio.jpg, The iconic stepping stones and Bolton Abbey File:Graveyard at Bolton Abbey.jpg, The graveyard adjacent to the Priory File:Bolton Abbey Graves Graveyard Cemetery Cross.jpg

References

External links

Bolton Abbey Estate

The Devonshire Arms Country House Hotel

The Cavendish Pavilion

Devonshire Group of Hotels

Priest's House Wedding & Function Venue, Barden Tower, Bolton Abbey Estate

The Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert

Photos of Bolton Abbey and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk

Chatsworth House

Lismore Castle
{{coord, 53, 58, 57, N, 1, 53, 14, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Wharfedale Craven District Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation Country estates in England