Extracts from the chartularies of Priories and Abbeys holding land in Medieval Swaledale

An engraving of a large, high, 12th-century Gothic-style gateway leading to a priory church visible in the distance. The gateway is fronted by a large, pointed arch decorated with several bands of carved fluting interspersed at regular intervals by small square carvings, mainly of flower heads. Passing under the arch, towards the viewer, is a woman and child holding hands. To the right of the arch, three children are engaged with each other. All the people are wearing clothes of the late-Georgian period when the drawing was made.
A view of the 12th-century church of Bridlington Priory seen through the Gothic arch of the priory main gate. Drawn and engraved by J & H S Storer, Cambridge, c.1834.
An engraving of the ruined east end of the nave of a priory church showing the surviving massive, pointed-arch frame of what was the east window. Either side are fluted, Gothic pillars, and to the side of those are surviving high walls with three storeys of smaller pointed-arch window frames. In the distance can be seen the west-wall of the nave with two storeys of large pointed-arch windows. In the foreground are fallen stones overgrown with bushes. Just visible next to these is the tiny figure of a woman carrying a basket.
The east end of the nave of the church at Rievaulx Abbey, drawn by William Richardson and published as the title page to the 1843 book The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, with illustrations by William Richardson and an introduction by Edward Churton.

From the early 1100s to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-1500s, large amounts of land in upper Swaledale were held by two of Yorkshire’s great religious houses.

Bridlington Priory held vast estates all over Yorkshire. In Swaledale its land was in Grinton, Harkerside and Whitaside. Rievaulx Abbey’s land in Swaledale was in what is now the civil parish of Muker, with estates located from Oxnop in the east to Birkdale in the west.

Accounts of these landholdings were recorded by monks, in Latin, and preserved in each monastery’s charter books, otherwise known as chartularies or cartularies. These books have been transcribed, translated into English, published in abridged form, and can be seen online here:
Abstracts of the charters and other documents contained in the chartulary of the priory of Bridlington in the East Riding of the county of York : Lancaster, W. T. (William Thomas) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
and
Cartularium Abbathiae de Rievalle : Surtees Society, Durham, Eng : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

A helpful study aid
To assist researchers of the history of Swaledale, SWAAG member Alan Mills has studied these published versions and created a helpful reference to the Swaledale lands mentioned within them, giving page references so that they are easy to find in the online publications.

Alan’s study aid also covers two other useful sources:
– In the case of Rievaulx, there were records of the abbey’s landholdings in a set of government accounts, written in English at the time of the dissolution. This has been transcribed and published but the publication is not currently available online.
– There is also a reference to Scots raiders in Swaledale in the year 1315 in a published translation of the Chronicle of the Lanercost, written at Lanercost Priory, near Brampton in Cumbria. It can be viewed here: The Chronicle of Lanercost, 1272-1346 : Translated, with notes : Maxwell, Herbert, Sir : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.

Alan’s commentary and list of references in all four of the above publications can be seen here: Extracts from the chartularies of Priories and Abbeys holding land in Medieval Swaledale