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Byland Abbey: History
Byland Abbey: Buildings
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Restless spirits
The old people tell the story of a certain James Tankerlay, one-time rector of Kereby, who was buried by the chapter-house at Byland. His spirit began to wander at night as far as Kereby, and one evening he gouged out the eye of his concubine who still lived there. It is said that the abbot and chapter had his body in its coffin dug out of the grave and that they ordered Roger Wayneman to convey it to Gormyre. When he was about to throw the coffin into the water, the oxen drawing his wagon panicked and were almost drowned with fear. [Medieval Ghost Stories: an Anthology of Miracles, Marvels and Prodigies, ed. A. Joynes (Woodbridge, 2001), p. 123] |
