Of Saxon crypts, gardens and wandering abbeys

I am on holiday in Yorkshire. I set off relatively early ;) which for the rest of you means stupid o'clock.

I decided to visit Ripon Cathedral and stopped at Booths for breakfast. For those who don't know Booths is a Northern supermarket chain that makes Waitrose look a bit downmarket!! LOLOL I had a lovely sausage bap.

Ripon was founded as a Benedictine Monastery by St Wilfrid in 672. Wilfrid's church was devastated by the English King Eadred in 948 as a warning to the Archbishop of York. The present church is the 4th and was build between the 13th and 16th centuries. A rare survival is the crypt from Wilfrid's 7th century church! In 1547 Edward VI dissolved Ripon's college of Canons.

In 1836 the church became the cathedral for the Diocese of Ripon. In 2014 the Diocese was incorporated into the new Diocese of Leeds, and the church became one of three co-equal cathedrals of the Bishop of Leeds (the others being Wakefield and Bradford). Bizarrely there is no Leeds Cathedral! 

The crypt!

So where next? I went to Beningborough a national trust property nearby. The house was closed for repairs but I had a wander around gardens.

Oh and of course a Scone! 

Lunch a savoury cream tea :)

Byland Abbey was on the way back to my hotel. 

It was founded  by the Cistercian Order 31st October 1177. Apparently this was the 7th site they had tried. The 6th was at Old Byland which was close to Rievaulx Abbey and they had to move as the two churches were so close together the monks couldn't identify which churches bells was ringing.