St Mary's Abbey - York, Great Britain.
N 53° 57.718 W 001° 05.293
30U E 625423 N 5980982
The Abbey of St Mary is a ruined Benedictine abbey in York. It stands in what are now the Yorkshire Museum Gardens, to the west of the mighty York Minster Cathedral.
Waymark Code: WMKAKD
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/10/2014
Views: 11
St Mary's Abbey - York.
"The King’s Manor and the St Mary’s Abbey site are a unity – the division is a nineteenth century artefact. Indeed it is only because the abbey became the King’s Manor at the Dissolution that the precinct was preserved. But in order to have an holistic interpretation of the site we need to understand the modern phases of occupation too, for it would not have survived intact had not the King’s Manor remained occupied. It is important to focus on a few historical moments and also on the potential for further work: what might we know and how might we go further and develop our understanding" (
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
St Mary's, the largest and richest Benedictine establishment in the north of England and one of the largest landholders in Yorkshire, was worth £2000 a year, when it was valued in 1539, during the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII; it was closed and subsequently substantially destroyed. All that remains today are the north and west walls, plus a few other remnants: the half-timbered Pilgrims' Hospitium, the West Gate and the 14th-century timber-framed Abbot's House (now called the King's Manor). The walls include interval towers along the north and west stretches, St Mary's Tower at the northwest corner and a polygonal water tower by the river. Excavated finds and architectural features, particularly relating to the warming house and late twelfth-century chapter house, are displayed in the Yorkshire Museum, housed on the grounds." Text Source: (
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The Hospitium part of the Abbey, in the Yorkshire Museum grounds:
"The ground floor of this timber and stone building is medieval and would have served as a guest house or barn within the monastery.
The first floor was substantially rebuilt in the 20th century to accommodate the ever-growing archaeology collections of the museum. Between the two periods it was used as an agricultural building.
It is now used as a conference and wedding venue by York Museums Trust." Text Source: (
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