St. Mary's Abbey

Just to the West of York, the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey rest in the Yorkshire Museum gardens. At one point in history, St. Mary's was the wealthiest and most powerful abbey in Northern England. 

The North and West walls are still mostly intact, and are beautiful. 

The night I visited, York High School was having its prom; all of the students were wandering through the gardens taking pictures in front of the arches. 

Here's the story with all the abbey ruins I visited: in the 1500s, Henry VIII shut down all the monasteries. Besides the horrible stories regarding his many wives, the Boleyn sisters, the beheading and the divorces, what I knew about Henry VIII was that he was responsible for the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. What I didn't realize was that as part of that change, he was authorized to command the Dissolution of the Monastaries. Abbeys and friaries across England and Ireland were forced to   close; in most cases, the empty buildings and grounds were gutted by thieves and destroyed by mobs. 

Something cool about St. Mary's Abbey: it was featured heavily in the early medieval ballads about Robin Hood. 

Part of the Abbey included a hospital, the remains of which have a somewhat eerie atmosphere. Hospitals back then, though, were not just places to heal illnesses. People who needed mental or spiritual rest could stay there for weeks or months to restore their holistic well-being. 

The hospital had two floors and lots of rooms. 

The courtyard connected to some other buildings...I can't remember what they were used for. 

Near the hospital, is the Multangular Tower. It is the most intact structure remaining from the Roman walls in the city. It was one of seven similar towers built to defend a Roman fort formed by the city walls. 

The gardens, scattered with ruins, run right up to peoples' homes. 

The gardens themselves were very pretty, too. If I had more time, I would have liked to have a picnic there.