Easby Abbey

The Abbey of St Agatha, Easby, was founded in 1152 by Roald, Constable of Richmond Castle.[1] The inhabitants were canons rather than monks. The Premonstratensians wore a white habit and became known as the White Canons.[2] Easby was a daughter house of the Abbey of St Mary and St Martial (Newsham Abbey) in Lincolnshire; it was the third Premonstratensian house funded in England.

The White Canons followed a code of austerity similar to that of Cistercian monks. Unlike monks of other orders, they were exempt from episcopal discipline. They undertook preaching and pastoral work in the region (such as distributing meat and drink). The canons also raised sheep.

Other former Premonstraterian houses in the north of England include Egglestone Abbey in County Durham and Shap Abbey in Cumbria. Like most northern monasteries, Easby suffered from frequent Scottish raids during the Middle Ages. Great damage was caused to Easby and Egglestone Abbey in 1346 when the English army was billeted there on its way to the Battle of Neville's Cross.

In the late 1530s Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. The abbey was abandoned and left to fall into ruins, though some of the best features were salvaged: the fine canopied choir stalls are now found in Richmond parish church.

The ruins are now Grade I listed.[3]

The Abbey remains

St Agatha’s Church is part of the Anglican Parish of Easby, Skeeby, Brompton on Swale, and Bolton on Swale; part of the Richmond Deanery in The Diocese of Leeds.[4]

St Agatha’s Church (also called Easby Church)[2] is located outside of Richmond, Yorkshire, and can easily be reached from Richmond via the trail alongside the river. The exact foundation date of Easby Church is unknown, but it is thought to predate the neighbouring abbey. Little of the original church remains. St Agatha’s retains medieval frescoes that were preserved through the Reformation after being whitewashed. The church and abbey are open free of charge to the public.

In Easby Church is a plaster replica of the carved stone Easby Cross. The original, which dates from the late 8th or early 9th century, is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The survival of this extremely rare early Christian cross is remarkable because when the church was being renovated the cross was broken up and used as convenient building stone in the new church. It was preserved there until it was found in the wall of the church and reassembled in the 20th century.

The church is now Grade I listed.[5]

• Henry le Scrope was buried at the Abbey
• William le Scrope (son of Henry), who was a soldier who distinguished himself in the French and Scottish wars (also buried at the Abbey)
• Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton was buried at the Abbey in 1403.
• Roger Scrope, 2nd Baron Scrope of Bolton, also buried at the Abbey
• Richard Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Bolton
• Henry Scrope, 4th Baron Scrope of Bolton
• John Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton

• List of monastic houses in North Yorkshire
• List of monastic houses in England