St Mary's Abbey

The skeletal remains of St Mary’s Abbey are defined by their pale limestone arches and traceried windows, standing in a parkland setting that once served as the site of the most powerful Benedictine monastery in northern England. Founded in ten eighty-eight by King William Rufus, the abbey was designed to mirror the authority of York Minster. Its influence was immense; the abbot held a seat in the House of Lords, and the monastery amassed such vast wealth through its estates that it became a target during the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century.