As Mark Shea said when he was here. We live in England.

England is full of history, back in the day (before the reformation) we had monks. Loads and loads of monks. Here in the North of England was particularly monk heavy because after the Norman conquest William the Bastard basically had his guys trash everything and kill everybody so that in the Domesday Book all the villages are described as wasta est (wasted).

William (aka the Conqueror) gave his favourite lords great swathes of land in the north and those guys carried on living down south because the land up north was basically useless (with no peasants, cows or anything). The lords lead lives of debauchery and then pooped themselves about what would happen to them when after they died. They struck deals with various monks from France saying "If you can get me in to heaven I will give you huge tracts of wilderness to build monasteries on" and since monks love huge tracts of wilderness (it's quiet) they said "it's a deal". Over the years house prices rose and the monks grew very wealthy until Henry VIII said "Hey, that looks valuable, I'll have that..."

The land in Hull was pretty much all owned by two groups of monks. The Cistercians at Meaux and the Augustinian Canons at Haltemprice. Michelle thought it would be a cool idea to take the Youth Group to visit the latter for night prayer at the end of this, um, whatever Youth Groups have... terms? Anyway, we took a walk up there this evening to do a bit of reccy and risk assess it check it's all safe.

We took a look online before going and found a great site about the priory here, so we knew that there was nothing of the priory to actually see. What there is, is a farmhouse which is pretty damn old and has some parts that may be contemporary to the priory itself. Better than Skipsea Castle.

The recent updates are a bit of a concern, it's the usual tale. A listed building that's too historically significant let somebody do something useful with it (like do it up) and not historically significant enough to take care of properly (build a visitor centre etc). So it stands there, crumbling. I can see why English Heritage hesitate to allow somebody to turn it in to a house, I've seen some lovely historic buildings trashed by people turning them in to houses. On the other hand, if English Heritage can't afford to look after it, surely it's better to let somebody do it up and live in it and hope for the best. The current state of affairs is going to leave us with a field.

You can see a picture of the farmhouse in 1998 here. Here's my pictures today, ten years later...

As you can see, quite a lot of the building has been lost in only ten years. Fortunately, quite a bit remains (for now). I trespassed a little bit through a rather large gap in the fence (you could drive a car through it) to get this photo of the other side. From this side you can see the stonework (at the bottom) which may have been contemporary with (and maybe even part of) the abbey.

Older OS maps also show a "Lady Well" to the north. We decided to go and check it out but we couldn't find anything, the field was too overgrown to really look for it and you're not really supposed walk around people's fields.

I really hope something can be done to save what remains of this site for future generations. It's not Buckingham Palace, but the site has great significance for the history of our local area. What would be ideal is for a millionaire to come and buy it and convert it in to some kind of Catholic retreat centre with visitor centre and resident monks. They could mark out the location of the old abbey and people could worship there once more. That would be amazing. But I'd be well happy just to find the next time I walk up there that somebody has fixed the walls, put a roof on top and is living there and occasionally checking the more ancient stonework hasn't crumbled too much.

As we left, I hoped that when Leona is old enough to look at these things, there will be something left for her to look at...

Come on English Heritage. We're members and we even visited Thornton Abbey. Get this farm sorted out.

Not a lot of people know this, it's not a particularly well known, but I, James have completed marathons on more than one occasion. Okay, so not that kind of marathon. I'm talking about a TV marathon, where you watch an entire series of something in one sitting. Take, for example, the Sharpe marathon. We watched every episode of Sharpe in one go, that's more than twenty-four hours of Sean Bean killing the French. Brilliant.

Then there was the Lord of the Rings marathon where we watched all nine plus hours of Peter Jackson's movies back to back (the extended versions no less). The Lord of the Rings marathon was less good and we all got bored and fell asleep, I think because Sharpe was a collection of short stories with a beginning, middle and end while Lord of the Rings almost entirely consists of middle. Also, we had all seen all of Lord of the Rings lots of times so it was nothing new. Ben was watching Sharpe for the first time.

Anyway, Ella and I are members of English Heritage which means we get free (as in, we already paid for it) entry to English Heritage sites across the country. On the way to Durham the other day we popped in the Richmond Castle for a quick visit - it's not worth paying £4 each to run around a castle but if it's free then why not pop by? Also, July 30th was our wedding anniversary. We have been married for two years and we wanted to do something to commemorate it. I couldn't get the day off on our anniversary but I could get the day after off. Does anybody remember what happened the day after our wedding? I do, we went to Whitby. So, a trip to Whitby is in order, but come on, we've been to Whitby, several times.

It didn't take long for these thoughts to brew in our minds and the obvious answer pop out. Why not do an English Heritage marathon? We looked at the book of sites and determined that there are way too many. English Heritage takes care of over 400 properties across England. Okay so what about Yorkshire? Still too many? We decided to narrow it down to properties within the North York Moors National Park. That's still a fearsome list (off the top of my head) I can think of three castles (Scarborough, Pickering and Helmsley), three abbeys (Whitby, Byland and Rievaulx) and Mount Grace Priory. The window of opportunity is tight as well, these sites open at 10am and close at 6pm. Some of them are a good hours drive apart. Scarborough is a nightmare to drive through. Some may say visiting all seven of these sites in one day is improbable, even impossible. We had to give it a go.

Having learned nothing from our trip to Durham we got up at 6:30am and left home at 8am. We haven't streamlined the getting up and out process at all. Babies take time to feed and change, that's just the way it is. If we want to get out earlier, we need to get up earlier. It takes two hours to get to Whitby, if all goes well we will be there for 10am, on time for opening. No problem.

St. Mary's Priory, Old Malton

So confident was I in our ability to complete the challenge that I pulled over outside the Royal Oak in Old Malton to take a look at a historic site not on our list. The parish of St. Mary the Virgin is built on and incorporates the ruins of a Gilbertine monastery. The Gilbertines (founded by St. Gilbert) are the only entirely English order and as such were wiped out in the dissolution of the monasteries. Gilbertine houses were usually largely for Nuns with a smaller number of male cannons and were designed so the two would never meet (except when a canon said mass for the nuns). St. Mary's Malton is a rare example of an all male Gilbertine priory.

The western end (front) of the church is the best preserved part of the priory with an entire tower and section of wall remaining. Taking a quick walk around the south side of the church we find that the wall of the church has been built in to and encompasses the arches that once separated the Nave from the Aisle. It is here that it is most obvious that the church is build on the ruins of an older building.

It was only a quick visit and after Ella noted her pleasure that the Royal Oak had an oak tree growing prominently outside, we departed and continued towards Pickering. As fortune would have it, this weekend (4th-5th of August) Pickering is having it's annual Pickering Traction Engine Rally. We sat in the already hot sun and watched as the workmen chose this moment to stop the traffic and erect a sign over the road. Eventually we got going again, the A169 over the moors is a beautiful drive and he moors were looking especially nice today but it always takes so long to get across them. We arrived in Whitby at 10:30am.

Whitby Abbey

I have written about Whitby Abbey before, it is a stunning place in a great location with easy access to fish and chips and lots of history. St. Wilfrid, who came to the Synod of Whitby in 664 would probably not approve of the visitor centre where a fictional monk by the name of William moans a lot about having to go to mass and pray. Our visit was to be quick so we missed the visitor centre and looked at the abbey ruins and fell in love with them all over again.

We came to Whitby the day after our wedding and we were also here in February for a last break before the baby. Now we are here again for our second anniversary, it's a beautiful day and we teach Leona about the different styles of arch. She won't remember of course but neither does Ella. There's a bench at the end of the lake that's only there for taking pretty photos and we sat there for a moment to enjoy the sun and give Leona a change and a feed.

Those of you who have been to Whitby (or those of you who have read Dracula) will know that the route from the Abbey to the Harbour includes the famous 199 steps. We didn't attempt the steps with the pram, instead, we took the donkey track which runs alongside, getting a pram down there is no mean feat. Ella carried Leona separately for minimum risk taking lest the pram escape my grip. We made it to the bottom for my favourite part of the day... er... Whitby Jet shopping.

Whitby is famous for Jet, formed from dead wood over thousands of years and carved in to pretty shapes for girls to yearn for. Ella has had one eye on the jet shops every time we have been to Whitby and what with it's association with the day after our wedding it seemed an appropriate anniversary gift. The problem is, the people who carve Jet have two styles: Victorian (in which the jet is a polished oval shape in a large ring) or Novelty (in which the jet is shaped like a Whitby Abbey or a frog). Ella loves the novelty things but doesn't want one as a piece of jewellery. She also doesn't want old lady jewellery. This presents a problem. An hour passed. Eventually we located a necklace that Ella liked, one that looked more like jet and less silver with black bits.

We hoofed our way back up the donkey track, James feeling more donkey like the higher we got until we reached the top. We passed through the Abbey grounds again where we realised that Leona was minus her hat. Her two in one (reversible) pink hat that godmother Katy bought. It must be somewhere down in Whitby. Daddy must have lost it. We drove down to the little car park down by the harbour where you can never park and Ella slowly drove the car around in circles while I ran up the street past all the jet shops. In the shop where we purchased Ella's jet I asked if they have found pink baby hat (I thought it likely as we spent a long time in that shop). The answer was no, but a man entering the shop overheard me and said that he had seen such a hat outside a shop farther up the street and had thought it was for sale. I ran back up the street to find Leona's hat hanging on the end of a sign outside a shop, I picked it up, painfully aware that nothing about my person made me look like I should be picking up babies hats, and ran back to the car.

Madonna House

Time, I am sorry to say, was not looking good. The original plan was to arrive in Whitby at 9am, buy Jet and get to Whitby Abbey for opening at 10am, quick visit, leave Whitby at 10:30am... we left Whitby at 12:30. Ella said she didn't mind how the challenge went as long as she got to Rievaulx Abbey. We decided to drop the castles from the itinerary.

Our next stop was the Madonna House community in Robin Hoods Bay. A visit to our friends at Madonna House is always a pleasure and it is wonderful to visit a living religious community living so close to the departed one in Whitby. They were pleased to meet Leona and we were pleased to have a cup of tea. I wondered where Charlie was but forgot to ask, I hope he is okay.

We also spent a few moments in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel. As wonderful as Whitby Abbey is, the small chapel at Madonna House has something better. Christ himself is physically there. You can't really better that.

We would have loved to linger longer at Madonna house but time was already drifting away and we had to move on. We were given a tip to avoid driving through Whitby but something went wrong and we ended up driving through Whitby anyway which is nice because you go over the new harbour bridge and get good views but bad because you are rapidly running out of time to visit abbeys.

As we drove over the moors we realised we could hear a strange sound, we looked around and realised the boot of the car was open, by some miracle despite driving uphill the contents had not spewed on the road and we still had our pram, camera and Whitby Jet. Phew.

Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul Pickering

It's not an English Heritage site and it's not an Abbey but despite pressing time we decided to pop in to the Parish Church in Pickering. Someone once told us it was worth going in there to see the medieval frescoes, that someone was right.

For some reason we've stopped painting on church walls. When Fr. Massie was planning the redecoration of St. Joseph's he laughed at my suggestion that we paint the wall around the altar blue with clouds and angels Sistine chapel style. We laughed as his suggestion we have it painted green. The green works, but angels would have been better, especially ones with swords.

The main thing I miss about paintings on the walls of Churches is the catechetical value. Standing in the nave of the church in Pickering you can't help but ask questions, who is that? what is he doing? There are so many saints I had never heard of until I went to Italy, yet here they are, in Pickering of all places. Why are they not to be found in my parish church? I feel robbed. Some day I should sneak in to St. Joseph's in the dead of night and paint my angels. Just as soon as I learn to paint that is.

We grabbed some lunch in Pickering. Coopland's Chicken Bake and a Cherry Danish. Classic. Time ticking ever forward we now had a tough decision to make as we drove towards Helmsley.

Byland Abbey

If you are ever travelling through the moors you might find it handy to remember this simple rule: driving from Pickering to Helmsley always takes twice as long as you expect. By the time we got to Helmsley the clock was frighteningly close to 4pm. Two hours. Two abbeys. Ella really wanted to see Revaulx so should we skip Byland? Our appetite for risk coupled with our blind optimism and our commitment to the challenge gave us no choice. Byland, here we come.

On a map, Byland isn't too far from Helmsley. In real life though it seemed to take forever to drive there. The winding roads are such slow going and the signs say 2 miles and then four hours later they say 1 1/2 miles. We weren't even sure it was worth it, Byland is barely there we were told. The west wall with it's half hole for a rose window is all that remains. Well, we disagree. There is lots left.

Unfortunately, today it was closed. It's only open at peak times (Thursday-Monday I think). Still, we got a good photo from the entrance and we get to remember the tale of Bishop Wimund, the pirate bishop who became a "seafaring warlord adventurer" and lived out his days at Byland after being captured, blinded and castrated.

It was probably for the best that Byland was closed, we might have been tempted to stay too long, as it was we were soon on our way to our final abbey.

Rievaulx Abbey

The final few grains were slipping through the hourglass as we drove from Byland, through Helmsley, to Rievaulx Abbey. Ella would have killed me if we'd missed it (at the very least I would have expected a light maiming) but here we were. 5pm. One hour to go. Rievaulx. Home of St. Aelred.

St. Aelred of Rievaulx was abbot at a time when life for Cistercian monks was hard. The monks spent most of their time in their cells reading and praying and speaking to one another at the times when they came together in the Church was discouraged. Aelred changed all that, he said that friendship between the monks was important and afforded them a better vision of friendship with God. Naturally, modern day 'scholars' think he was gay.

The car park at Rievaulx was a scare and a half. Parking at Richmond on Saturday cost 50p for an hour. In Whitby I paid £1.50 for 2 hours. The price at Rievaulx? £6. Flat fee. I almost fell over. Nevertheless, we had come this far and Ella was not about to miss Rievaulx Abbey. I went in to the ticket office to ask for change and they told me that on entry to the abbey the car parking fee is refunded, furthermore, if you are an English Heritage member (as we are) entry is free anyway so parking is free. A sign explaining this on the car park ticket machine would be nice.

The abbey buildings are beautiful and quite a remarkable amount of the structure remains. Most of the south end of the church (liturgical east) still stands. The layout of the church and cloister is identical to the layout of Durham cathedral, the chapter house is in the same place and the same shape. Of course, the Roman/Norman arches are replaced with Gothic ones and it's got more of a girly french feel about it but it's beautiful all the same.

Cue ad nauseum questions about why we don't build them like this anymore. People seem to prefer sports halls these days.

We escaped the abbey under warning that the abbey car park closed at six and drove slooooowly in to Helmsley because the Cyclists were cycling two by two (hurrah). We parked up in Helmsley and just enjoyed being there (I like Helmsley) for a moment while we changed Leona and prepared for the drive home. Said drive was fairly uneventful save for the fact that it didn't mark the end of our day. We picked up Ella's mum and brother on our way in to Hull and headed to Hedon for the last Morris dance of the Green Ginger season at the Shakespeare in Hedon.

Did we succeed in our challenge? Well, we certainly had a good day and seeing so much of our regions christian heritage in one day definitely helps see it in a new light. We missed an abbey, albeit a closed one, Mount Grace Priory (which is beautiful). I'd love to try again sometime, to visit in one day all the Abbeys and Castles in the North Yorkshire Moors. Is it possible? We'll all just have to wait and see.