The only place we visited today was the town of Whitby in Yorkshire, along the Northeastern Coast of England overlooking the North Sea. We paid a visit to St Mary's Parish Church of Whitby next to the Abbey, and then had to get some Fish and Chips, followed by a visit to the Captain James Cook Museum. The ancestors that I have that are associated with the town of Whitby and Whitby Abbey are: Any evidence of them being buried at the abbey, at the parish church, or anything is lost to time. This Abbey was another casualty of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and was built sometime in the 1220's. After it's destruction in 1539, it was bought by the Cholmley Family, who also purchased the Abbey's estates.  I did find some stone coffins half buried next to the crossing of the Abbey, but there was no way to identify them. Sorry, no discoveries today.  St. Mary's Parish Church wasn't much better. Situated next to the Abbey, when the King's men came to dismantle...

  Today we spent our time visiting North of York. Three castles, Barnard in Southern Durham County, and Richmond and Middleham in North Yorkshire. All three began with William I, but were built and lived in by separate families. Barnard Castle was built in the late 11th to early 12th centuries by Bernard de Balliol. Prior to this, the earldom of Northumberland had been managed by Siward Digri, and his son, Waltheof. Both were Anglo-Saxon Lords, but had intermarried with the Vikings. Their loyalties to the Norman Lords was always suspect, and when the Bishop of Durham (Walcher)was murdered in 1080, William II decided to break the Earldom up into smaller Baronies, and Bernard inherited his from his Uncle, Guy de Balliol upon Guy's death around 1133. The line of succession gets a little confusing at this point, so much so, that I have had to rely on the History of the Castle through the website of English Heritage. The first Bernard Balliol was a nephew of the original Guy de Balliol ...

    Today was another great day of new discoveries as Terry and I travelled East to the town of Hunmanby to visit an 900 year old Parish Church, and then we headed South to the town of Beverley to visit the Minster there.  When the day began, the reason to visit All Saints Church in Hunmanby was to see where Everard de Ros and his wife Rohese Trussebut, my 23rd Great Grandparents, were buried. Yesterday when we were at Kirkham Abbey and Helmsley Castle, the de Ros family was all over the place, so a small side trip to see Everard and Rohese's final resting place seemed reasonable.  The question I have been asking myself all day was, why would they be buried away from the rest of the de Ros family, in a small parish church, without any connections to this place. We arrived right at noon, and two volunteers were at the church opening it up for us.  They must have received my email from last night asking if the church would be open, because the website said it woul...

 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 in...