Byland Abbey: History
• Sources
• Foundation
• Consolidation
• Later Middle Ages
• Dissolution

Byland Abbey: Buildings
• Precinct
• Church
• Cloister
• Sacristy
• Library
• Chapter House
• Parlour
• Dormitory
• Warming House
• Day Room
• Refectory
• Kitchen
• Lay Brothers' Range

Changing times: the reorganisation of the abbey’s estates

By the thirteenth century the economic situation had changed. The monks of Byland lived in a different world from that of their twelfth-century predecessors and faced fresh challenges. Financial problems, the Black Death, cattle disease and warfare had all taken their toll, and the demise of the lay-brotherhood at this time meant there was a shortage of available manpower. Byland, like other Cistercian communities, had to rethink its estate management and had several options: the monks could lease out their lands, repopulate vills or engage hired help to work the abbey lands as demesne. Each of these ran counter to the early ideals of the Order, but the General Chapter accepted that there was some need to adapt with the times and in 1208 it sanctioned the leasing of lands.(33)

The ravages of warfare
In 1344 Byland was permitted to appropriate Rillington, on account of damage the community had suffered at the hands of the Scots.

[Jennings, Yorkshire Monasteries, pp. 103-104.]

It generally made good business sense for the community to lease out its remote lands, which could not easily be brought into any of the abbey’s estates. The community might lease out its lands to lay-brothers or servants of the house. In September 1317, Byland demised ten acres of land in Bretton to John of Dronfield, for twenty years; John promised faithful aid in all business relating to the house and agreed to pay the community three shillings biannually.(34) Granges were often subdivided and might be leased to various members of the same family.(35) The monastery frequently forged good links with its tenants, but relationships could be turbulent and Byland clearly had its share of difficult tenants. One such trouble-maker was William of Atton, who in 1369 was accused by the abbot of making waste in the houses, woods and gardens that the community had demised to him for ten years at Kirkby Malzeard.(36) Another troublesome tenant was William Clayton, who in 1471 claimed to hold rights (‘terms and title of harmhold’) at Byland’s grange of Bentley (Emley). The monks rubbished his claim and notified ‘all Christian people’ that Thomas Allott was the true tenant here, and that he, rather than William, should be supported.(37)

[Read more about tenants and keepers]

Byland continued to lease out its lands until the end of the Middle Ages. An agreement was drawn up in 1532 between Abbot John and the monks of Byland and Richard Askywith of Osgoodby, regarding the demise of a third of the monks’ grange at Osgoodby with its appurtenances for ninety-nine years. It was decided that Richard should pay the community 6m 8s 10 _ d twice a year. The abbot, in return, granted Richard and his successors various rights to hold during this period. Richard and his son agreed to maintain and repair this third of the grange at their own cost, and to maintain the straw roofs and plastered walls of the houses, ensuring that these were handed over to the community in a good state of repair at the end of the specified period.(38)

Award between Byland and John Wywell, touching rent of lands at Osgodby, 26 October 1526
© British Library
<click to enlarge>

In the sixteenth century, on the eve of the Dissolution, the Byland community significantly increased its rents. Given that these were anxious and uncertain times this self-interest is hardly surprising. Following the dissolution of Byland in 1538, the precinct and many of the community’s former lands were sold to Sir William Pickering of Oswaldkirk. William died soon thereafter and was succeeded by his son, Sir William Pickering II. In 1574 the lands passed to the Wottons. Today, farms now stand on many sites formerly occupied by Byland’s granges, such as Oldstead Grange, which lies about a mile to the north-west of the abbey ruins. At some sites earthworks are still visible, for example, in the paddocks at Cams Head Farm, which stands to the west of the abbey.