Lastingham

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Lastingham is a village which lies in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It was the home of the early missionaries to the Saxons, such as St. Cedd and his brother, St. Chad.

[edit] History

There is reason to believe that the original name for Lastingham was Læstingau. Læstingau first appears in history when St. Cedd founded a monastery for Benedectine monks in 648. Cedd ruled the monastery as the first abbot until his elevation to the episcopal see of London, and his brother St. Chad took his place. On one of his visits back to Læstingau, St. Cedd died of the plague in 664 and was buried in the monastery.

Knowledge of following events is scarce. It is known however that the monastery was destroyed by the Danes in 870, and most likely remained that way until 1078. The monastery was rebuilt by Stephen, abbot of Whitby and a band of monks he brought with him, who had left Whitby due to a disagreement with William de Percy, who was lord of Whitby at the time.

They received support from the king and Berenger de Todeni in the means of one carucate of land in Lastingham, six carucates at Spaunton, and other lands in Kirkby etc. They only remained for four years however, after which they moved to York, founded St. Mary's Abbey to which they annexed the lands of the monastary at Lastingham.^[1]