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BOLTON PRIORY

The monastery at Bolton was founded by Augustinian canons in 1154 as a priory, only acquiring its ‘abbey’ status as part of the PR accompanying the new railway in the 19th century. The small community had originally settled on the edge of the Embsay moors some 30 years earlier, but were grateful for the gift of a more sheltered location on the banks of the River Wharfe from Lady Alice de Romilles of Skipton Castle. A touching tale, immortalised in Wordsworth’s poem ‘The Boy of Egremont’, attributes her largesse to a desire to create a memorial to her son William, who lost his life trying to leap The Strid when out hunting, although his signature appears on the deed of gift – such is the stuff of legend!

However, the priory was never well-endowed and, beleaguered by intermittent poverty, sickness and the unwelcome attentions of Scottish raiders, failed to realise the prosperity and status enjoyed by some of the other Yorkshire monasteries such as Fountains and Rievaulx. By the time of the Dissolution, almost four centuries later, the West Tower still remained incomplete and, despite an attempt by the last prior, Richard Moone, to bribe Thomas Cromwell for a reprieve, the lands were seized by the Crown and sold off to the Cliffords, who were by then the rulers at Skipton Castle. To his lasting credit Moone did, however, manage to secure the 13th-century nave for the use of the parish, a status that it retains today.