Building and site description
The haunting, spiky ruins of Whitby Abbey dominate the picturesque East Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby. The building has long been a marker for shipping and is dramatically visible from the road as you approach the town.
Whitby Abbey silhouette at dawn © English Heritage photo library
The first abbey on site was founded by St Hilda in AD 657, a princess of the Northumbrian royal family, but was destroyed in a Viking raid two centuries later.
Archaeologists now know that in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries, Whitby Abbey was the centre of a busy settlement. Northumbrian royalty were buried on site as well as the Anglo-Saxon poet Caedmon.
One of William the Conqueror’s knights refounded the monastery in the late 1070s. By 1220 so many pilgrims were visiting Whitby that the abbey church was too small and had to be rebuilt and extended, and it is the remains of that 13th-century building you can explore today.
The choir (the main space in front of the altar) has very rich carvings and mouldings on every surface and there are arched Gothic aisles and arcades. These are all clearly visible although in the middle ages the walls would have been painted and the windows glazed.
In 1538, under Henry VIII, Britain’s monasteries were dissolved. Although it ceased to be a monastery, Whitby Abbey was not damaged much. Instead it was leased to the Cholmley family who used it as a source of building materials for their new house next door, which gradually emerged from the abbot’s old lodging.
The Cholmley house has a classical frontage added in 1672 and now houses the visitor centre.
View of the Whitby Abbey and pond © English Heritage photo library
Architectural style
Ruins of a cliff-top Norman monastery and abbey built on a historically important site. The visitor centre is housed in a 17th century mansion built largely with materials plundered from the abbey.
Quirky facts
- Bram Stoker (1847–1912), the author of Dracula, took his inspiration from Whitby Abbey.
- There are 199 steps on the traditional route from the town to the abbey.
Building highlights
- choir, nave and transepts of the Gothic abbey
- views across the North Sea
- 17th-century mansion converted to a visitor centre
- Cholmley family’s formal garden.
Using Whitby Abbey as a teaching resource
Visiting a ruined abbey provides students with the opportunity to reflect not only on the stark beauty of what they see today, but also on how life was lived hundreds of years ago. The site’s practical history lends itself to strong cross-curricular learning (art & design, English, geography, religious education) and learning in a real setting to nurture student creativity.
Suggested activities
Key stages 1 and 2 (art & design, religious education)
Look carefully at the carved stonework in the choir. How many carvings can you see? Why do you think there are so many? Choose the one you like best and draw it.
Key stages 2 and 3 (English)
Write an exciting story set in or around Whitby Abbey as it is today. It could be an adventure, ghost, school or any other sort of story. Or write a poem inspired by the building. Include references to parts of the building discovered on your visit.
Key stages 3 and 4 (English, art & design)
Study the layout of the abbey and look at the reconstructions in the visitor centre. Visualise how it would have been and then write a description from the point of view of a medieval monk seeing it for the first time in 1300.
Region
Yorkshire and The Humber
Location
Whitby Abbey
Whitby
East Yorkshire YO 22 4JT
Whitby Abbey is an English Heritage site.
For school enquiries contact 01904 601917/901.
For booking enquiries only: educ.york@english-heritage.org.uk.
Accessibility
10am-4pm Thurs-Mon until 31 March
10am-6pm daily in summer
Further information
English Heritage discovery visit for schools: The Tudor Abbey (KS 2 and 3)
Whitby Abbey information and hazard sheets
