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Serlo I myself was present at the time of the secession
of the monks from the monastery of York; from my boyhood I knew
by face and name those who seceded; I was born in their part of
the country; I was brought up amongst them; to several I was related
according to the flesh. Although I am stricken in years, I am very
grateful to my old age for my memory remains unimpaired and holds
fast to the things that were committed to it in early years. Serlo, who was a monk of Kirkstall and Fountains, is cited by Hugh of Kirkstall as the chief authority for his history of Fountains [Narratio de fundatione Fontanis monasterii], which was compiled in the early thirteenth century. At this time Serlo was an elderly monk, nearing a hundred. Serlo witnessed the dramatic events of 1132-3, when the monks of St Mary’s, York, had fled their abbey seeking solitude, and struggled in the face of adversity before finally establishing a flourishing family.
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