15 June 2026 Bolton Abbey and Skipton Castle

 Time to blog about some more Clifford ancestors. Bolton Abbey was an Augustinian Abbey founded in North Yorkshire around 1154. Nestled in a valley of the River Wharfe, right in the middles of the Yorkshire Dales, this was a slice of heaven on earth. The same thing happened with this Abbey as most. Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries sealed its fate, however, the Nave of the priory is now called the Priory Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert, it  survived, and is still used as a parish church today.

People are still using the Churchyard to bury their dead (Graveyard for those from the States). There were several stone sarcophagi near the Abbey ruins, and still more in the churchyard, which isn't common to see.  

The front of the priory church used to be the back of the Abbey, but looks fine now. Here's a picture of it. 

The three ancestors that I have associated with the Abbey are Sir John Clifford, Buried, 1422, Sir John Pudsey, a knight, who was born here in 1360, and Margaret Conyers, who was buried here in 1500. For a lot of the churches, abbeys, and priories that were destroyed in the mid 1500 due to King Henry VIII's actions, I have given up much hope of finding the final resting place for my ancestors. It has been the same with a lot of the destroyed places I have found, but sometimes you get lucky, and the bodies were moved to other locations. The same may have been done for Sir John Clifford. 6 Miles away in the town of Skipton is Skipton Castle, and there is a Chapel there where some bodies may have been reburied, but the Clifford's also had a Church next to their castle that I visited today, and the answer to where his remains are may lie with the Holy Trinity Church of Skipton.

Skipton Castle was a nice castle, and still has residents living in it. It was not a ruin, but was the ancestral home of the Clifford family until 1676. Something I am going to have to unravel when I get back from this trip is to separate the Yorkshire Cliffords from the marcher Lord Cliffords, if in fact they need to be. 

In 1310, Robert Clifford was appointed First Lord Clifford of Skipton and Guardian of Craven by Edward I. The further North you go in England, the more you have to deal with the Scots, and being in Yorkshire meant having sound defensive Castles, not only for staging attacks against Scotland, but also to prevent the Scots from encroaching further South. As Edward I said in the Movie Braveheart, "The problem with Scotland, is that there are too many Scots!"

Lord Robert Clifford had just began turning this fortress into a stallwart defensive bastion of hope for the English, when he was killed in 1314 at The Battle of Bannockburn. He was indeed a part of the Welsh Marcher Lord Clifford's from Clifford Castle in Herefordshire, and was born there in 1274. 

Robert Clifford's daughter, Idonea Clifford, was married off into the infamous Percy family of Alnwick Castle, and became Henry Hotspur Percy's Grandmother when he was born.

Sir Robert's heir after his death was another Robert Clifford (1305-1344), and his wife was Isabel de Berkeley, of the Berkeley Castle Berkeleys. Interesting how everyone is related to everyone when researching a person's lineage back then.

Ancestors associated with Skipton Castle that I haven't already mentioned include Joan de Geneville, who was imprisoned here in 1322, Henry Clifford, 10th Lord of Skipton, Thomas Clifford, 8th Lord of Skipton, Dorothy Clifford, daughter of Henry the 10th Lord, and Robert FitzRainfred de Rumilly, whose daughter was Lady Alice who donated the land where Bolton Abbey was built. The guidebook for Bolton Abbey spelled Lady Alice's last name as d'Romille, but I just made the connection, and it all makes sense. 

As you can see by my not so great writing, as I blog about these places, I am also cross referencing names found in the guidebooks of those places, with the names in my genealogy database, and discovering much more. Through the Cliffords, I have added Rumilly's, Dacre's, Bromflete's, and Fitzhughs to my family tree. It takes longer to blog when I find these discoveries, but once I have the material from the places I have visited, it's hard for me not to get too excited and start filling in more empty spaces with more ancestors. I will definitely take a second look at things when I get home from this trip, but for now, it's nice to know that my hard work and trip are paying dividends while I am still over here. 

The last place I visited was the Holy Trinity Church of Skipton, located just next to Skipton Castle. Inside the church, there are two large tombs for the Clifford Family and the Clarence Family. 

This will be another thing I will have to research when I get back home, but next to the Clifford tomb, I found this note on a column :

14 Cliffords are buried in the vault under the Altar in this church. I know that the vaults were built in 1542. The next note I found there says that the bodies are of those Cliffords moved from Bolton Abbey when it was destroyed. The tomb below this note is the one in the Holy Trinity Church, and it appears to be the remains of the 10th Lord Clifford of Skipton, my 14th Great Grandfather, Henry "the Shepherd Lord" Clifford.

From the beginning of this blog, to the end, by re-reading the material I have picked up in my visit, I have answered questions near the end of this blog that I was asking at the beginning of this blog. The pictures I have taken have helped solve some riddles, and opened the door for more discoveries that I never could have found if I had tried to do this strictly from home. I have 16 days left on my trip, and many more discoveries to uncover before I leave. Just think of the things I will find once I return home with all of this information. I may have to blog my discoveries after this trip is over.

Henry "the Shepherd Lord" Clifford, 10th Lord Clifford of Skipton, my 14th Great Grandfather's Tomb in Holy Trinity Church, Skipton, North Yorkshire, England.