History of

Whitby

 

Whitby - Accommodation, Views, Guide, Property.

657 Northumberland King Oswy founded a monastery with a mixed community of men and women. It flourished under the rule of Abbess Hild, attracting future bishops and the first known English religious poet Caedmon.
664 Synod of Whitby. King Oswy decides in favour of the Roman over the Celticrite of calculating the date of Easter and thus determining the pattern of the religious calendar, helping to pave the way for future political unification of England.
671 King Oswy dies. Buried in the church of St Peter at Whitby.
680 Abbess Hild dies and becomes St Hild. Important relics are brought to Whitby.
731 Bede completes his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. For Bede, the foundation of Whitby Abbey was a turning point in this history - England`s conversion to Christianity.
867 Whitby Abbey may have been sacked by the Danes, but some sort of devotion probably continued. The name "Streaneashalch" disappears, replaced by the viking name of "Whitby", meaning "White or Hvitis farmstead".
944 The bones of St Hild sent to Glastonbury by Edmund I.
1066 - 1087 Reinfrid, a knight who fought for William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings,visits Whitby Abbey.
1073 - 1074 Re-foundation of Whitby Abbey - Mission of the North, Reinfrid, now a monkof the Benedictine Order, returns after setting out from Evesham Abbey to visit and restore the northern shrines.
1078 - 1087 Reinfrid re-establishes monastic life at Whitby Abbey and work on a churchbegins. Reinfrid dies while helping to build a bridge.
1086 The Doomsday Book says Whitby is worth 60 shillings.
1120 Burgage granted to the Abbott.
1220 New presbytery built.
1250 - 1260 Choir completed along with crossing and transepts.
1320 Reconstruction of the main body of the nave begins. It was probably only finally completed in the late 15th Century.
1334 Great Storm of Martinmas blows down the fabric of the nave. Archbishop of York gives formal assent to a fund-raising campaign by senior monk Richard Lumby to help complete building works on the church.
1539 The last Abbott William Davell and twenty monks surrender Whitby Abbey to  Henry VIII`s commissioners during the dissolution. Monastic estates had an annual value of £437.2s.9p.and the abbey had enjoyed a continuous existence  for more than 400 years.
1541 Abbey site and precinct leased to Richard Cholmley, who buys the freehold in 1545. Many of the abbey buildings demolished but the church preserved. The Abbott`s lodgings, now known as Abbey House, becomes the main residence.
1630 Important changes to the Abbey House, under the direction of Sir Hugh Cholmley II. The north range new extension and facade of Abbey House completed at a cost of £232,000, known as the Banqueting House, (now the new visitor centre).
1736 Abbey`s south transept collapses of which little survives today.
1762 The nave collapses.
1880 - 1900 Seven prints of Whitby Abbey completed by Whitby photographer Frank Meadow Sutcliffe.
1897 Publication of Bram Stokers Dracula, featuring the headland as the location for part of the novel.
1914 A German shell during the naval bombardment hits the abbey, severely damaging the west front of the church.
1920 - 1925 The abbey site is acquired by the Ministry of Works and the west front of the church rebuilt. Sir Charles Peers heads the first archaeological excavation.  Remains are found of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.
1944 Headland a base for anti-aircraft battery.
1958 Rahtz discovers medieval and post-medieval evidence during excavations. A second excavation to the south east of the church by Rahtz & Paccitto reveals several skeletons, presumed to be part of the lay cemetery of the 13th Century.
1989 Princess Anne comes to Whitby Abbey, recognising 450 years since dissolution.
1993 - 2001 Archaeological research, evaluation and excavation work undertaken by English Heritage.
1999 - 2000  Excavation exposes part of a massive Anglo-Saxon cemetery.


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