16 June 2026 Three Abbeys and a Castle de Ros

 Ruins today. Well, it makes the day go by faster. If there was one family name that today was about, it would be de Ros (Roos). 

After William I conquered England, he sent one of his Knights, Robert Mortain, to the area of Helmsley. Although there is no evidence of him building Helmsley Castle, a wooden motte and bailey castle was constructed around 1120 by William L'Espec.  

L'Espec was one of the "New Men" that Henry II brought to power when he became King. Some say he was of the same lineage as the D'Aubignys, but he was well respected, and very supportive of his King. He donated the land that would become Rievaulx Abbey, one of the greatest abbeys in Northern England. This is also where he was laid to rest.

This was no copycat motte and bailey castle. The site chosen for it was on a rocky limestone outcropping overlooking the River Rye in the Rye Valley, and was built inside of two concentric ditches, which formed a barrier between the outer bailey and the inner bailey.  

In 1154, the L'Espec line ended in a two daughters, Adeline and Hawise. Adeline L'Espec was married to Piers (Peter) de Ros, and the ownership of the castle followed her to her descendants. 

 Peirs de Ros became the first Lord de Ros, and his son, Robert de Ros, became the second. Robert's grandson, Robert de Ros, is well known for upgraded the castle from wood to stone. Starting out with white sandstone, this castle was so secure that it was never challenged by an invading Army until the English Civil War. 

Robert de Ros I was one of the 25 Magna Carta Surety Lords, tasked with enforcing the provisions of the Magna Carta. Also a huge supporter and possibly a member of the Knights Templer, he may have gone on one of the crusades to Jerusalem, although he was quite busy as Sheriff of Cumberland, a Castelon at Bonneville Castle in Normandy, accompanying King John to Ireland several times, and as a patron of Kirkham Priory (13.5 Miles South of Helmsley Castle). He died in 1226 at the age of 49, and is buried in Temple Church in London.

I have a lot of ancestors associated with Helmsley Castle, almost to many to list, but they include all of its owners from Robert Mortain through Robert de Ros II, including their children and wives.

Next is Kirkham Priory, founded by Walter l'Espec, supposedly after the death of his young son after his horse was spooked by a boar. This Priory became the burying place of the early De Ros family members, and my associated ancestors were: 

The gatehouse at Kirkham Priory was inscribed with the Coat of Arms of the following families:

Founded around 1120, it was an Augustinian Priory (Rievaulx less than 11 miles away and also founded by L'Espec was Cistercian) that lasted until Henry VIII's edict against Monasteries. All Abbeys and Priories were designed to be self sufficient and from what I saw today, many were secluded in beautiful river valleys with plenty of land for growing food. 

It looked like there were several burials there, but it is so hard to tell when the destruction of the property is like it was here. Even if they were legit burials, records have been lost, as well as ways of identifying the graves, that we will never know who was buried where. The same is also true of Rievaulx Abbey, which comes next.

Rievaulx Abbey, also founded by L'Espec, is one of the crowned jewels of destroyed abbeys in the North of England. This abbey was nestled in the Rye River Valley, and was only 1.9 miles from Helmsley Castle. Rievaulx was the final resting place of several de Ros's and L'Espec nobles. The sheer size of this ruined Abbey is amazing. Pictures can't do it justice, but I'll show quite a few next.

Rievaulx Abbey became one of the greatest and wealthiest abbeys in England. With over 140 brothers, and 6000 acres of land. It produced 5 daughter houses in England and Scotland, and mined lead from nearby lands. The mid 14th Century, however, wasn't very kind to the Abbey. The Black Death, as well as a scourge of Sheep Scab (mange), greatly reduced the quality of the wool, and the numbers of brothers living there. As time went on, Rievaulx lost it's connection with what had made them great. Originally Vegan, the brothers adopted a more comfortable lifestyle, by eating meat, and maintaining separate living accommodations at the abbey. It is no wonder that when King Henry VIII saw the wealth of the monasteries in England, and their influence over his subjects, that he could greatly benefit his cause by getting rid of them altogether, making himself more wealthy, as well as powerful.

The last Abbey we visited was Byland Abbey. The minks who founded this abbey were unsuccessful at 5 other abbeys before they found success here at New Byland. Their skill at raising sheep, and the beautiful church that the built, rivaled Rievaulx itself, although the Byland Abbey wasn't near as wealthy as its closest rival. 

Today, it is again another reminder of Henry VIII's dirty work. There were several burials here that I was interested in, but very little evidence of when and where they were laid to rest. The "official" burials that I know happened from my research were:

Here's another possible burial stone from the Abbey.

One last thing about this Abbey. There are a lot of stories regarding ghosts here. Numerous Latin manuscripts were produced at and owned by Byland Abbey, of which twenty-seven are known to have survived.  One of the manuscripts owned by Byland Abbey in the Middle Ages is noted for containing a collection of twelve ghost stories. Produced in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries, primarily containing a copy of the Elucidarium and some tracts by Cicero. However, in the early fifteenth century, an anonymous scribe, known in scholarship simply as 'a monk of Byland', added some extra texts, also in Latin, on previously blank pages.  These are a series of twelve ghost stories, mostly set locally, which were presumably intended for inclusion in sermons as exempla and which reflect orally circulating folklore in Yorkshire at the time. While not a major literary production in their own time, these stories have since come to be regarded as important evidence for popular belief regarding ghosts in medieval north-west Europe.

While reading the story boards around the abbey (which describe the abbeys and its every day life), I found this one, and snapped a picture of it. 

It's only safe to say, that with this much destruction of consecrated ground, and so many people buried here, that there would be a few lost souls who would seek to perpetuate ghostly activity once things quieted down to nothing.