The ruins of Whitby Abbey dramatically crown the headland and loom over the harbour. This distinctive building, with its gaunt silhouette, marked a safe haven for those at sea, a recognisable, brooding institution, and a place of religious contemplation and mission. One that became the background to a gothic romantic novel. A place now luridly floodlit on Halloween. The Abbey and its ruins, in human imaginations, have been many things to many people.
When you consider where the abbey is positioned, you wonder what possessed them to build it there. Severely exposed to the fiercest of storms and thunderous winds. These days the weathering scars ever deeper into its ancient stonework. Originally the headland is thought to have been much larger, sitting higher in relation to the Abbey, which sheltered in its protective shadow. It also was not originally alone up there, An early settlement, once clustered around the nascent abbey, like a shanty town.
For the ruins we now see, are not what was
originally built here in the 7th and 8th centuries. That settlement, called Streaneshalch ( Streane's Headland ), was an Anglian community, with perhaps only a staithe in the harbour beneath. The religious community, though only a handful in number, had a small minster church. Records are sketchy of how substantial a building this was. Though it was once one of four such 'minsters' perched above river mouths along this coastline.
Oswiu King of Northumbria sent Abbess Hild to found the minster of St Peter in 657. It became under her tutelage a hub of learning and literacy. Producing Caedmon, the first person known to have written poetry in the English language. Abbess Hild was confident and charismatic, becoming an extremely effective, inspirational spiritual leader, of this double house monastic foundation, one for both monks and nuns. Her wise, calm and peaceable demeanour made her a much sought after advisor. Abbess Hild, was what made the minster at Streaneshalch famous across Europe. Which, no doubt, is why it was chosen as the site for a pivotal meeting of Christians in 664.
This meeting, now retrospectively referred to as The Synod of Whitby, was called to resolve a longstanding clash of two religious cultures, over practice and authority. There were many areas of contention, but it mainly centered around the date of Easter. An Irish-Ionian date versus that of Catholic Rome. Which version was to have precedence? The Synod decided conclusively on Rome's.
After Abbess Hild's death in 680, a considerable cult built up around the veneration of her. There was no official process of beatification in Anglo Saxon times, sainthood was a title bestowed upon individuals simply through the combination of common religious experience, devotion and the miraculous. She forged a huge spiritual reputation for the Abbey. That even in its future centuries, in its much larger Benedictine manifestation, it lived off, and often failed to live up to it.
Streaneshalch was built on a headland because that was easier to defend from attack by raiders. Then in 793 the Viking's infamously desecrated the religious community at Lindisfarne. It was only a matter of time before Streaneshalch would also become a target. In the 9th century the Anglian settlement and minster was so badly attacked, it had subsequently to be abandoned. A new town founded with the Danish name Whitby, began to thrive in the harbour beneath.
Whitby was, seemingly, without any notable religious presence on the headland for nearly a century. Until, post 1066, a Norman soldier called Reinfrid, journeying on his way northward, stopped off to visit whatever remained of the headland minster. He felt moved to become a monk, later returning as a hermit. By 1078 he'd accumulated enough followers to build a small priory.
Any religious foundation required endowments, patronage and land, simply for its survival. Reinfrid wanted to keep the community small in number, and fought hard against the drive, by others, to build a fully fledged Benedictine monastery. This desire proved irresistible. Today, all we know about that larger monastery, is its size and outline. Its marked out in the grass of Whitby's ruins. This was built around 1109 in a simple Romanesque style, and appears to have had five side chapels in the form of apses.
Ambitions to always be building better, larger and in a more fashionable gothic architectural style, proved overwhelming for the egos of a series of medieval Abbots. All despite the monastery appearing to have been almost permanently overstretched financially. Abbot Benedict in the 12th century had to be forcibly removed for 'squandering' the Abbey's wealth. In 1320 a papal visitation found the abbey to be seriously in debt. With a far from diligent group of choir monks, who preferred hunting to applying themselves to devotional practice. Yet, merely ten years after that papal assessment, this self same monastery was embarking itself on a hugely expensive project to rebuild the entire Nave. This could only be done through the patronage of wealthy people such as the Percy family. The endeavour nonetheless had to be abandoned half completed - the money ran out.
Where they had reached by this point can be seen in the West Nave. There are a series of 13th century Early English lancet windows, which are followed by the recognisably elaborate tracery of later 14th century Decorated windows. It was a full hundred years later before sufficient funds could be raised to complete the nave project. Altogether it took 250 years to finish the Whitby Abbey we now see. The Nave, from the start, had been misaligned to the tower and presbytery, by about four degrees. Though this is not an uncommon occurance in large scale medieval stone buildings. One has to wonder what pressure those builders were under for so substantial an error to happen.
Other aspects of the monasteries finances were strained. Whitby Abbey was bequeathed 'burgage' over the town of Whitby by Henry 1st. This gave them the right to raise money through charges on the profits from the town's market, annual fairs, civil court and from its thriving fishing industry.
This type of financial fleecing by the Benedictine abbey of its local townspeople was never popular. To require even begrudging support, it did required the Abbey to be spiritually exemplary. Because all Benedictine foundations lived within towns, everything about them was known, subject to prejudicial conjecture or scurilous rumour. In the straightened economy of the 14th century, when the feudal structure of England pretty much collapsed, onerous taxes from a Benedictine monastery, frequently became the final straw. Incensed locals, at best took legal redress, at worst they rioted.
The later history of the Abbey is very poorly documented. Though by the time of its dissolution in 1539, its known there were 22 monks rattling around its vast and chilly cloisters. Its level of patronage had so declined, the income it generated made it one of the poorest Benedictine houses in England.
The land, subsequent to the Dissolution, was leased to the Cholmley family. Initially they only lived there during the summer. Nonetheless, they set too and demolished most of the remaining monastery service buildings. The abbey itself was left untouched because it was such a distinctive landmark, which could be seen from the sea. And, no doubt, it also acted as this large physical windbreak.
During the era of the romantic ruin in the grounds of stately homes, the old abbots house became fronted with a classically designed building, including an elegant courtyard. This house subsequently had its roof blown off in a storm on 1790. and was to fall into ruin thereafter. The remains of this are now used as the abbey's museum and shop.
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