Editing Jervaulx Abbey

{{Short description|Ruined monastery in North Yorkshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox monastery
| name           = Jervaulx
| image          = Jervaulx Abbey, geograph.jpg
| caption        = Jervaulx Abbey ruins
| full           =
| other_names    =
| order          = [[Savigniac]], [[Cistercian]]
| established    = 1156
| disestablished = 1537
| mother         = [[Byland Abbey]]
| diocese        =[[Diocese of York|York]]
| churches       =[[Aysgarth]], [[Ainderby Steeple]], [[East Witton]], [[West Witton]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/NRY/Eastwitton/Eastwitton90.html|title=GENUKI: East Witton Parish information from Bulmers' 1890.|publisher=www.genuki.org.uk|access-date=9 May 2023}}</ref>
| founder        = Akarius fitz Bardolph
| dedication     = St Mary
| people         =
| location       = [[East Witton]], [[North Yorkshire]], England
| coordinates    = {{coord|54|16|1|N|1|44|17|W|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| map_type       = North Yorkshire
| oscoor         ={{gbmappingsmall|SE173855}}
| remains        = Substantial
| public_access  = Yes. Privately owned.
}}

'''Jervaulx Abbey''' in [[East Witton]] in [[North Yorkshire]], {{cvt|14|mi}} north-west of the city of [[Ripon]], was one of the great [[Cistercian]] abbeys of [[Yorkshire]], England, dedicated to [[St Mary]] in 1156. It is a Grade I [[listed building]].<ref>{{NHLE |desc=Abbey Ruins |num= 1130961 |accessdate=4 August 2018}}</ref>

The place name ''Jervaulx'' is first attested in 1145, where it appears as ''Jorvalle''. The name is French for 'the [[River Ure|Ure]] valley' and is perhaps a translation of the English 'Ure-dale', also known as Yoredale.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ekwall |first1=Eilert |author-link=Eilert Ekwall |title=The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names |date=1960 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |oclc=1228215388 |pages= 268, 488 |edition=4}}</ref> The valley is now called [[Wensleydale]].

==History==
Initially a [[Savigniac]] foundation out of [[Normandy]], the abbey was taken over by the Cistercian order from [[Burgundy]] and responsibility for it was taken by [[Byland Abbey]]. Founded in 1145 at Fors near [[Aysgarth]], it was moved ten years later to a site a few miles away on the banks of the [[River Ure]].{{sfn|Jecock|1999|p=7}} In 1145, in the reign of [[King Stephen of England|King Stephen]], [[Akarius Fitz Bardolph]], Lord of [[Ravensworth]], gave Peter de Quinciano, a [[Savigny Abbey|monk from Savigny]], land at Fors and Worton, in Wensleydale, to build a monastery of their order. The monastery was successively called the Abbey of Fors, Jervaulx and Charity. Grange, {{convert|5|mile|km|0}} west-north-west of Aysgarth, a hamlet in the township of [[Low Abbotside]] in the parish of Aysgarth, is the original site of Fors Abbey. After it was abandoned it was known as Dale Grange and now by that of the Grange alone.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.thedales.org.uk/ForsAbbey-Askrigg 
 |title=The Dales :: Fors Abbey-Askrigg 
 |publisher=www.thedales.org.uk 
 |access-date=24 June 2009 
 |last= 
 |first= 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091110170151/http://www.thedales.org.uk/ForsAbbey-Askrigg 
 |archive-date=10 November 2009 
 }}
</ref>
   
Serlo, Abbot of Savigny, disapproved of the foundation, since it had been made without his knowledge and consent. He refused to supply it with monks from his abbey because of the great difficulties experienced by those he had previously sent to England. Therefore in a general chapter he proposed that it be transferred to the Abbey of Belland (Byland), which was closer and would be able to provide the assistance required by the new foundation. Monks were sent from Byland and after they had undergone great hardships because of the meagreness of their endowment and sterility of their lands [[Conan IV, Duke of Brittany|Conan]], son of [[Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond]], greatly increased their revenues and in 1156 moved their monastery to its better location in East Witton.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/NRY/Eastwitton/JervaulxAbbeyHistory.html
|title=GENUKI: Jervaulx Abbey History
|publisher=www.genuki.org.uk
|accessdate=23 June 2009
|last=
|first=
}}
</ref> Here the monks erected a church and monastery, which, like most of the Cistercian order, was dedicated to St Mary. At the height of its prosperity the abbey owned half of the valley and was renowned for breeding horses, a tradition that remains in [[Middleham]] to the present day. It was also the original home of [[Wensleydale cheese]], originally made with ewes' milk.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.jervaulxabbey.com/history.php
|title=A brief history of the rise and fall of Jervaulx Abbey.
|publisher=www.jervaulxabbey.com
|accessdate=23 June 2009
|url-status=dead 
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311231208/http://www.jervaulxabbey.com/history.php
|archive-date=11 March 2013
|last=
|first=
}}
</ref> In 1279 Abbot Philip of Jervaulx was murdered by one of his monks.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cistercian Abbeys: Jervaulx|url=http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/abbeys/jervaulx.php|website=Cistercians.shef.ac.uk|accessdate=19 December 2015}}</ref>
His successor, Abbot Thomas, was initially accused of the crime, but a jury determined that he was not to blame, and another monk fled under outlawry.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.isleofalbion.co.uk/jervaulx/
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130420171147/http://www.isleofalbion.co.uk/jervaulx/
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=20 April 2013
|title=Isle of Albion: Jervaulx Abbey Picture Gallery
|publisher=www.isleofalbion.co.uk
|accessdate=24 June 2009
|last=
|first=
}}</ref>

According to [[John Speed]], at the Dissolution the abbey was valued at {{nowrap|£455 10s. 5d}}.{{sfn|Jecock|1999|p=8}} The last abbot, [[Adam Sedbergh]], joined the [[Pilgrimage of Grace]] and was hanged at [[Tyburn, London#Tyburn gallows|Tyburn]] in June 1537, when the monastic property was forfeited to the king.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36237
|title=Houses of Cistercian monks - Jervaulx |work= British History Online
|accessdate=23 June 2009
|last=
|first=
}}
</ref>

==Post Reformation==
[[File:Jervaulx Abbey Ground Plan Brakspear 1911 7.png|thumb|left|Ground Plan of the Abbey from the description by Hope & Brakspear (1911)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hope |first1=W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;J. |last2=Brakspear |first2=H. |title=Jervaulx Abbey |journal=Yorkshire Archaeological Journal |date=1911 |volume=21 |pages=303–344 |url=https://archive.org/details/brakspear-1911-yaj-021}}</ref>]]
The pulpitum screen with part of the stalls can now be seen at [[St Andrew's Church, Aysgarth]], and a window was reused at [[Church of St Gregory, Bedale|St Gregory's parish church]] in [[Bedale]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Walker|first1=Andy|title=Old church windows smashed by vandals|work=The Northern Echo|date=31 July 2008|page=31|issn=2043-0442}}</ref>

As the monasteries kept people employed and from starving, the regional disturbances were occasioned by desperation, and, as the monastic system was not diocesan or provincial to make a swift transition within the nationalized episcopal system, there was no immediate resolution to tenant sufferings. Jervaulx, Byland and other Cistercian houses were as much attached to Savigny and [[Citeaux Abbey]] in the [[Duchy of Burgundy]] as [[Richmondshire]] and the [[Honour of Richmond]] generally were to the [[Duchy of Brittany]], both establishments based in France but cut off owing to the [[Hundred Years' War]] and especially after the loss of the [[Pale of Calais]].

The standing remains of the abbey include part of the church and claustral buildings and a watermill.{{sfn|Jecock|1999|p=38}} The lordship of East Witton, including the site of the abbey, was granted by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] to [[Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox]], and [[Margaret Douglas|Margaret]], his wife, the king's niece, and after passing through various hands the property came into the possession of the Bruce family, one of whom was created [[Earl of Ailesbury]] in 1805. The estate was purchased from the trustees of [[Ernest Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury]], in 1887 by [[Samuel Lister, 1st Baron Masham|S. Cunliffe Lister Esq.]] of Swinton Park for £310,000.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.yorkshirehistory.com/abbeys/index.htm
|title=Yorkshire history Abbeys
|publisher=www.yorkshirehistory.com
|accessdate=23 June 2009
|last=
|first=
}}
</ref>
It was purchased by Major and Mrs W. V. Burdon in 1971. Their youngest son, Ian, now runs the abbey, the ruins of which are open to the public.

== Burials ==
*[[Akarius Fitz Bardolph]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burrow |first1=E.&nbsp;J. |title=Yorkshire's ruined abbeys |date=1938 |publisher=Burrow & Co |location=London |page=45|oclc=7319629}}</ref><ref name="WLC">{{cite book |last1=Christie |first1=William Lorenzo |title=Jervaulx Abbey, East Witton and neighbourhood, with some account of the monks (Cistercians) |date=1951 |publisher=Harrison |location=Ripon |page=29|oclc=30194777}}</ref>
*Hugh Fitzhugh, 2nd Baron FitzHugh<ref name="YRA">{{cite book |last1=Burrow |first1=E.&nbsp;J. |title=Yorkshire's ruined abbeys |date=1938 |publisher=Burrow & Co |location=London |page=46|oclc=7319629}}</ref><ref name="WLC"/>
*[[Henry FitzHugh, 3rd Baron FitzHugh]] and wife Elizabeth de Gray FitzHugh<ref name="YRA"/><ref name="WLC"/>

== See also ==
*[[List of monastic houses in North Yorkshire]]
*[[List of monastic houses in England]]
*[[Grade I listed buildings in North Yorkshire]]
*[[Listed buildings in East Witton]]
*[[Jervaulx Hall]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
*{{cite report|last=Jecock|first=Marcus|title=Jervaulx Abbey, North Yorkshire|date=1999|publisher=English Heritage|issue=AI/4/1999|issn=1478-7008|oclc=45435446}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Jervaulx Abbey}}
*[http://www.jervaulxabbey.com/ Official site]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Monasteries in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Churches in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Cistercian monasteries in England]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Ruins in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:1537 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1150s]]
[[Category:1156 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Wensleydale]]
[[Category:Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation]]
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:East Witton]]