St Mary's Abbey, York

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The Ruins of St Mary's Abbey

The Ruins of St Mary's Abbey from the southern end.

The Abbey of St Mary in York lies in what is now the gardens of the Yorkshire Museum in York. It was a Benedictine refoundation by King William II of England (1088) of a 1055 monastery dedicated to Saint Olave to the west of York Minster. In 1132, a party of reform-minded monks left to establish the Cistercian monastery of Fountains Abbey.

The abbots of St Mary's were said to be very decadent and the abbey featured heavily in the early medieval ballads of Robin Hood (with the abbot usually as Robin Hood's nemesis).

St Mary's was once the largest and richest Benedictine establishment in the north of England and the abbots were amongst some of the wealthiest landowners. However during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, around 1540, it was destroyed. All that remains today are the north and west walls, plus a few other remnants: the Pilgrims' Hospitium, the West Gate and the 14th-century timber-framed Abbot's House (now called the King's Manor). The surviving ruins date mainly from the 13th century. Excavated finds and architectural features, particularly relating to the chapter and warming houses, are displayed in the nearby Yorkshire Museum.

[Ruined Church Interior:[1]]

[Abbey Ruins:[2]]

[Painting of Abbey:[3]]