Helmsley Castle and Riveaulx Abbey

Today we went to Helmsley Castle and Rievaulx Abbey.

Castle Helmsley is a medieval castle that dates back to around 1186. First is a picture of the interior of what was the Keep of the castle. Next to it is a picture from the exterior of the Keep.


Next is a picture of the Lord's residence within the Castle complex.


Here I am in the east gate of the castle.


Here's a picture of the castle seen from a nearby hill as we hiked to the abbey.


Rievaulx Abbey was a Cistercian abbey here in York that existed from 1132 to 1538.


The monks diverted the river which ran through the valley so they had enough room to build the abbey. Here's a little garden on the River Rye.


Here's a pair of pictures from the presbytery and nave of the church at the abbey.


And a picture of the refectory where the monks ate their meals.


Rievaulx became famous for its Aelred, who wrote on the topic of Christian friendship. This became one of the most famous abbeys in north England, second only to Fountains Abbey.

Rievaulx reached its height during the 1200s. However, due to huge losses from a disease affecting their sheep and the Bubonic Plague in the late 14th century, the abbey declined from 140 monks and 500 lay brothers to fourteen monks and three lay brothers.

Like so many others, the abbey was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1538. At that time, there were said to be 72 buildings occupied by only an abbot and 21 monks, attended by 102 servants, with an income of 351 pounds a year. It also had a prototype blast furnace at Laskill, producing cast iron as efficiently as a modern blast furnace; the closure of Rievaulx is believed to have delayed the Industrial Revolution for two and a half centuries.

Goole Waterways Museum

Today we went to the Goole Waterways Museum. Located about 45 miles inland on the River Ouse (which flows into the Humber), we took a tour of the museum and went on the canals in a tugboat. Goole was famous for transfering coal from barges which came from upstream to larger ocean going vessels.


Coal was transported by use of tugboats which carried barges known as pans down the river to the harbor. There the pans went into a lift which raised the pan up and then tilted it, tipping the contents down a chute and into the holds of larger ocean going vessels. This method was so efficient it was used for 150 years. Here's a model of how the system worked and a remaining lift.




Goole remains one of the most important ports on the eastern coast of England.

Jorvik Viking Festival

This weekend was the Jorvik Viking Festival here in York.

A little history: A large army of Danish Vikings captured York in 866, and, in 876, the Vikings settled permanently in parts of the Yorkshire countryside. Viking kings ruled this area, known to historians as "The Viking Kingdom of Jorvik", for almost a century. In 954 the last Viking king, Erik Bloodaxe, was expelled and his kingdom was incorporated in the newly consolidated Anglo-Saxon state.

The Viking Festival is an opportunity to celebrate the Vikings and a lost way of life. Here's some Vikings massing in the Museum Garden.


There was also a falconry group with their birds at the museum. Here's one of their eagles.


A replica Viking boat

Lindisfarne and Bede's World

This last weekend we went to Lindisfarne and Bede's world.


The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded by Irish born Aidan, who had been sent from Iona off the west coast of Scotland to Northumbria at the request of King Oswald around AD 635. It became the base for Christian evangelism in the North of England and also sent a successful mission to Mercia.

At some point in the early 700's, the famous illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated Latin copy of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, was made probably at Lindisfarne. Sometime in the second half of the tenth century a monk named Aldred added an Anglo-Saxon (Old English) gloss to the Latin text, producing the earliest surviving Old English copies of the Gospels.

Lindisfarne is also famous for its castle high atop the rock.



We also went to Bede's World, the site of the former monastery where Bede wrote the Ecclesiastical History of the English people.

I don't know quite why but they also have a petting zoo there. (Its part of the village representing monastic life then.)

Liverpool

Today we went to Liverpool, home of the Beatles and other famous bands of the United Kingdom.

We began the day at Albert Dock, site of a number of museum including the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the Tate Liverpool, the International Slavery Museum, and the Beatles Story.


We began the day walking to the Liverpool Cathedral, the largest Anglican church in the United Kingdom. Built in the 20th century, the cathedral is made of a local sandstone.


After viewing the cathedral, we walked to the city center for a while and walked around. We then returned to Albert Dock to go to the Merseyside Maritime Museum and finished the day at the Tate Liverpool.