A tragic event accompanied the dissolution of Whalley Abbey. John Paslow, the last abbot, having taken part in the Pilgrimage of Grace, was executed in front of his own monastery together with one of his monks, who was hung, drawn and quartered; whilst on the following day another member of the community was hung on the gallows at Padiham.
At one time the ruins of Whalley Abbey were open to the public as freely as the church, but they are now virtually closed, owing to their abuse by a party of excursionists--the innocent, as so often the case, suffering for the guilty.
_North Riding._--ST MARY’S, YORK: BYLAND: JERVAULX: RIEVAULX: EASBY: WHITBY
1078, Founded by Alan of Brittany, Earl of Richmond--1088, William II. enlarges Alan’s grant, and builds a large church and dedicates it to St Mary--1137, The church burnt down--1270, Abbey begun to be rebuilt by Abbot Simon of Warwick--1539, Abbot William Dent surrenders abbey to Henry VIII. when it becomes Crown property. Annual revenue, £1550, 7s.--1827, Yorkshire Philosophical Society buys the land on which the ruins stand.
So bound up is the history of this Benedictine abbey with that of York that a brief historical survey of the famous ancient city seems almost imperative. Legendary history attributes the founding of York to Eneas, contemporary of David, King of Israel. If this be true, as the monks certainly believed it to be, York may safely boast of an antiquity as far reaching as any other city in the world. Certain it is that when the Romans took possession of the city in 70 A.D. distinct traces of a previous settlement of Brigantes were to be found. To the Celtic name of Aberac the Romans added the Latin terminal _um_, calling the city Eburacum. Alcuin, a native of York who lived in the 7th century, ascribes the foundation of York to the Romans.
“Hanc, Romanus manus muris et terribus altam.” “Fundavit primo.” “Ut fieret ducibus secura regni.” “Ut decus imperii terrorque hostilibus armis.”
Ptolemy, the Alexandrian geographer of the 2nd century, writes also of Eburacum as a Roman station, making special mention of its prosperity in trade. The old Brigantine town offered every facility for commerce, the river Ouse affording easy navigation to the principal towns in the north. The military position was practically impregnable in those days of hand-to-hand warfare, so we read that a very short time after their arrival the energetic Romans began to build fortifications, traces of which can still be seen in the shape of towers and walls. Hadrian visited York in 78 A.D. as did also Severus in 280. About this time the name Eburacum was changed by Greek influence to Eboracum. Until the withdrawal of Cæsar’s legions in the 5th century, York assumed all the magnificence and beauty of a Roman city, and attained to the very height of its prosperity. After the departure of the Romans comes an obscure and misty period in the history of the city. It was taken possession of by the English, and in 627, during the reign of Edwin, king of Northumbria, the building of the Minster was begun.