The Ruins of Whitby Abbey

Perched up on a cliff, stark against the Yorkshire sky and the North Sea waves, the large imposing ruins of an ancient Benedectine abbey towers over the seaside town of Whitby. Such is its prominence that it is the first thing you could see as you drive eastwards towards the sea through the North York Moors National Park. 

The town's association with the gothic novel Dracula has brought people in thousands to this  remote part of Yorkshire. But it is still the dramatic remains of Britain's most romantic ruins that is the town's crowning glory. 

We approached Whitby Abbey from the car park, although another popular route is through the 199 winding stone steps from the old town. We were handed an audio device that came with the ticket price, our guide to the abbey's colourful history that makes the plot of Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth look dull in comparison. 

This once mighty edifice was founded in 657 AD as a monastery by the formidable Abbess Hild, a Saxon princess who was sainted after her death. Under her care, the monastery has become important enough to host the Synod of Whitby in 664 where England signed up to Rome's model of Christianity. 

The monastery was destroyed in 867 when it was attacked by the Viking raiders and laid desolate for more than 200 years. But in 1078 the abbey was reestablished by Reinfrid, one of William the Conqueror's knights who had become a monk. By1220s, the abbey has become one of the most wealthiest monasteries in the country and embarked on a major rebuilding project that would soon be its downfall. 

Corruption, bribery and excess - the ills of society that even the 'men of God' could not escape from - ate into the monks who were made wealthy by the donations brought by the pilgrims who were attracted to the place. Their desire to build a bigger and grander structure has left the monastic purse empty and heavily in debt during the more than a hundred years of its construction. 

This not unusual tale of greed amongst the holy orders was one of the reasons for the decline of Christianity in Europe. The peasant devotees were promised heavenly treasures in exchange for their worldly possessions that goes straight to the Churches' coffers to finance the comfortable lives of the 'servants of God'. The church is no longer just a place of worship but has become a symbol of power and wealth, thus the desire to make it bigger and grander. This same desire would be its eventual destruction. 

In 1539, the abbey was dissolved under the Dissolution of Monasteries Act and was later sold to a wealthy family who used the stones from the abbey to rebuild the abbot lodgings which became their home. The abbey was soon ravaged by violent storms and through years of neglect, slowly fell into decay. The structures collapsed but the last vicious blow came from the German bombs in WW1 which further damaged the west front of the abbey. Today, the abbey is under the care of the English Heritage Trust and a popular day trip destination by young and old alike.