Jervaulx Abbey: History of the largest family owned and preserved Cistercian abbeys in the UK based in Yorkshire

The Grade I listed building was originally dedicated to St Mary in 1156 and is located near the city of Ripon.

Its name Jervaulx is first noted in 1145, where it appears as Jorvalle.

The name is French for ‘the Ure valley’ and is possibly a translation of the English ‘Ure-dale’, also known as Yoredale. The valley is now called Wensleydale.

History of Jervaulx Abbey

The site was originally a Savigniac foundation out of Normandy and was later seized by the Cistercian order from Burgundy and Byland Abbey took responsibility for it.

The abbey was founded in 1145 at Fors near Aysgarth and 10 years later it was moved to a site a few miles away on the banks of the River Ure.

That year, during the reign of King Stephen, Akarius Fitz Bardolph, who was Lord of Ravensworth, gave Peter de Quinciano, a monk from Savigny, land at Fors and Worton, in Wensleydale, to build a monastery of their order.

The monastery there was called the Abbey of Fors, Jervaulx and Charity and after it was abandoned it was known as Dale Grange.

Serlo, then Abbot of Savigny, declined the foundation as it was made without his knowledge and consent.

He refused to supply it with monks from his abbey due to the difficulties experienced by those he had previously sent to England.

Byland monks who had experienced great hardships were transferred to the abbey due to the inadequacy of their endowment and the sterility of their lands. Conan, son of Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond, significantly raised their revenues and in 1156, they moved their monastery to the better location in East Witton.

At this site, the monks erected a new church and monastery, which was dedicated to St Mary and at the peak of its affluence, the abbey owned half of the valley and was renowned for breeding horses. This is a tradition that remains in Middleham to this day.

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Abbot Philip of Jervaulx was murdered by one of his monks in 1279 and his successor, Abbot Thomas, was originally accused of the crime, but a jury later ruled that he was not to blame, and another monk fled under outlawry.

According to the cartographer, chronologer and historian, John Speed, the abbey was valued at £455 at the Dissolution.

The pulpitum screen can now be observed at St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth, and a window was reused at St Gregory’s parish church in Bedale.

The lordship of East Witton, including the site of the abbey, was granted by Henry VIII to Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and Margaret, his wife, the king’s niece, and after passing through various hands, the Bruce family purchased the property, one of whom was dubbed Earl of Ailesbury in 1805.

S. Cunliffe Lister Esq. of Swinton Park bought the estate in 1887 for £310,000. Major and Mrs W. V. Burdon bought it from the Christie family in 1971 and their youngest son, Ian, now runs the abbey, the ruins of which are open to the public.

The present remains of the abbey include part of the church and claustrial buildings and a watermill.