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Byland Abbey and the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Like many small communities in northern England, Byland Abbey was particularly hard hit by the Black Death. The epidemics of the fourteenth century cut the abbey’s population from around 240, to just fourteen.
Investigators for the Dissolution of the Monasteries arrived at Byland in February 1535. Three years later, when all the formalities were complete, less than twenty monks were present as the abbey was formally surrendered to the Crown.
Like so many of England’s monasteries, Byland gradually fell into disrepair and the monastic buildings were gradually plundered for use in other building projects in the area. However, the monastery’s remains are substantial and medieval floor tiles and a portion of the rose window still survive, to give visitors a tantalising glimpse of what it would have been like to see one of England’s finest abbeys in its medieval heyday.
Byland Abbey and the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Like many small communities in northern England, Byland Abbey was particularly hard hit by the Black Death. The epidemics of the fourteenth century cut the abbey’s population from around 240, to just fourteen.
Investigators for the Dissolution of the Monasteries arrived at Byland in February 1535. Three years later, when all the formalities were complete, less than twenty monks were present as the abbey was formally surrendered to the Crown.
Like so many of England’s monasteries, Byland gradually fell into disrepair and the monastic buildings were gradually plundered for use in other building projects in the area. However, the monastery’s remains are substantial and medieval floor tiles and a portion of the rose window still survive, to give visitors a tantalising glimpse of what it would have been like to see one of England’s finest abbeys in its medieval heyday.
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