GUISBOROUGH AND THE SKELTON VALLEY
Although a mere fragment of the Augustinian Priory of Guisborough is
standing to-day, it is sufficiently imposing to convey a powerful
impression of the former size and magnificence of the monastic church.
This fragment is the gracefully buttressed east end of the choir, which
rises from the level meadow-land to the east of the town. The stonework
is now of a greenish-gray tone, but in the shadows there is generally a
look of blue. Beyond the ruin and through the opening of the great east
window, now bare of tracery, you see the purple moors, with the
ever-formidable Roseberry Topping holding its head above the green woods
and pastures.
The destruction of the priory took place most probably during the reign
of Henry VIII., but there are no recorded facts to give the date of the
spoiling of the stately buildings. The materials were probably sold to
the highest bidder, for in the town of Guisborough there are scattered
many fragments of richly-carved stone, and Ord, one of the historians of
Cleveland, says: 'I have beheld with sorrow, and shame, and indignation,
the richly ornamented columns and carved architraves of God's temple
supporting the thatch of a pig-house.'
The Norman priory church, founded in 1119, by the wealthy Robert de Brus
of Skelton, was, unfortunately, burnt down on May 16, 1289. Walter of
Hemingburgh, a canon of Guisborough, has written a quaintly detailed
account of the origin of the fire. Translated from the monkish Latin, he
says: 'On the first day of rogation-week, a devouring flame consumed our
church of Gysburn, with many theological books and nine costly chalices,
as well as vestments and sumptuous images; and because past events are
serviceable as a guide to future inquiries, I have thought it desirable,
in the present little treatise, to give an account of the catastrophe,
that accidents of a similar nature may be avoided through this calamity
allotted to us. On the day above mentioned, which was very destructive
to us, a vile plumber, with his two workmen, burnt our church whilst
soldering up two holes in the old lead with fresh pewter. For some days
he had already, with a wicked disposition, commenced, and placed his
iron crucibles, along with charcoal and fire, on rubbish, or steps of a
great height, upon dry wood with some turf and other combustibles. About
noon (in the cross, in the body of the church, where he remained at his
work until after Mass) he descended before the procession of the
convent, thinking that the fire had been put out by his workmen. They,
however, came down quickly after him, without having completely
extinguished the fire; and the fire among the charcoal revived, and
partly from the heat of the iron, and partly from the sparks of the
charcoal, the fire spread itself to the wood and other combustibles
beneath. After the fire was thus commenced, the lead melted, and the
joists upon the beams ignited; and then the fire increased prodigiously,
and consumed everything.' Hemingburgh concludes by saying that all that
they could get from the culprits was the exclamation, 'Quid potui ego?'
Shortly after this disaster the Prior and convent wrote to Edward II.,
excusing themselves from granting a corrody owing to their great losses
through the burning of the monastery, as well as the destruction of
their property by the Scots. But Guisborough, next to Fountains, was
almost the richest establishment in Yorkshire, and thus in a few years'
time there arose from the Norman foundations a stately church and
convent built in the Early Decorated style.
Glimpses of the inner life of the priory are given in the Archbishop's
registers at York, which show how close and searching were the
visitations by the Archbishop in person or his commissioners, and one of
the documents throws light on the sad necessity for these inspections.
It deals with Archbishop Wickwaine's visit in 1280, and we find that the
canons are censured for many short-comings. They were not to go outside
the cloister after compline (the last service of the day) on the pretext
of visiting guests. They were not to keep expensive schools for rich or
poor, unless with special sanction. They were to turn out of the
infirmary and punish the persons lying there who were only pretending to
be ill, and the really sick were to be more kindly treated. There had
evidently been discrimination in the quality of food served out to
certain persons in the frater; but this was to be stopped, and food of
one kind was to be divided equally. A more strict silence was to be kept
in the cloister, and no one was to refrain from joining in the praises
of God whilst in the choir. There seems to have been much improper
conversation among the canons, for they are specially adjured in Christ
to abstain from repeating immoral stories. Some of the canons who had
made themselves notorious for quarrelling and caballing were to be
debarred from promotion, and were commended to the Prior and Subprior
for punishment.
In 1309 Simon Constable, a refractory canon of Bridlington, was sent to
Guisborough to undergo a course of penance, change of residence being
always considered to give an excellent opportunity for thorough reform.
However, in this case no good seems to have resulted, for about five
years later he was sent back to Bridlington with a worse character than
before, and, besides much prayer and humiliation, he was to receive a
_disciplina_ every Friday at the hands of the Prior. This made no
improvement in his conduct, for in 1321 his behaviour brought him
another penance and still greater severity. A few years after this the
Archbishop seems to have reproached the community for the conduct of
this unruly brother, which was scarcely fair. The last vision of Simon
Constable shows him to be as impenitent as ever, and the Archbishop
makes the awful threat that, if he does not reform at once, he will be
put in a more confined place than he has ever been in before! Can this
suggest that the wicked canon was to be bricked up alive?
These internal troubles were not, however, generally known to the
outside world, but the unfaltering searchlight of the records falls upon
such great folk as Peter de Mauley, fifth Baron Mulgrave, whose castle
at Mulgrave, near Whitby, is mentioned elsewhere; Lucy de Thweng, wife
of Sir William le Latimer; Sir Nicholas de Meynyl; and Katherine, wife
of Sir John Dentorp, whose conduct merely reflected the morals of
medieval times. It was, indeed, no uncommon event for the congregation
to hear some high-born culprit confessing his sins as he walked barefoot
and scantily clothed in the procession in York Minster. An exceedingly
beautiful crucifix of copper, richly gilded, was discovered during the
early part of last century, when some men were digging amongst the
foundations of an old building in Commondale. There seems little doubt
that this was a cell or chapel belonging to the monastery, for the
crucifix bears the date 1119, the year of the founding of Guisborough
Priory. Another metal crucifix, probably belonging to the thirteenth
century, was discovered at Ingleby Arncliffe. It was beautifully inlaid
with brilliant white, green, red, and blue enamels, and the figure of
Christ was discovered to be hollow, and to contain two ancient
parchments, written in monkish Latin and scarcely legible. One of them
was a charm, addressed to 'ye elves, and demons and all kind of
apparition,' who were called upon in the name of the Trinity, the Virgin
Mary, the Apostles, Martyrs, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, and the
elect generally, to 'hurt not this servant of God, Adam Osanna, by night
nor by day, but that, through the very great mercy of God Jesus Christ,
by the help of Saint Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, he may
rest in peace from all the aforesaid and other evils.'
Another intensely interesting relic of the great priory is the
altar-tomb, believed to be that of Robert de Brus of Annandale. The
stone slabs are now built into the walls on each side of the porch of
Guisborough Church. They may have been removed there from the abbey for
safety at the time of the dissolution. Hemingburgh, in his chronicle for
the year 1294, says: 'Robert de Brus the fourth died on the eve of Good
Friday; who disputed with John de Balliol, before the King of England,
about the succession to the kingdom of Scotland. And, as he ordered when
alive, he was buried in the priory of Gysburn with great honour, beside
his own father.' A great number of other famous people were buried here
in accordance with their wills. Guisborough has even been claimed as the
resting-place of Robert Bruce, the champion of Scottish freedom, but
there is ample evidence for believing that his heart was buried at
Melrose Abbey and his body in the church of Dunfermline.
The memory of Mr. George Venables--that most excellent man who devoted
many years to gathering funds for a charity school in the town--is
preserved on a monument in the church. He had retired from business,
but, in order to find the means to start the school, he resumed his
labours in London, and devoted the whole of the profits to this
useful object.
The central portion of the town of Guisborough, by the market-cross and
the two chief inns, is quaint and fairly picturesque, but the long
street as it goes westward deteriorates into rows of new cottages,
inevitable in a mining country.
Mining operations have been carried on around Guisborough since the time
of Queen Elizabeth, for the discovery of alum dates from that period,
and when that industry gradually declined, it was replaced by the
iron-mines of to-day. Mr. Thomas Chaloner of Guisborough, in his travels
on the Continent about the end of the sixteenth century, saw the Pope's
alum-works near Rome, and was determined to start the industry in his
native parish of Guisborough, feeling certain that alum could be worked
with profit in his own county. As it was essential to have one or two
men who were thoroughly versed in the processes of the manufacture, Mr.
Chaloner induced some of the Pope's workmen by heavy bribes to come to
England. The risks attending this overt act were terrible, for the
alum-works brought in a large revenue to His Holiness, and the discovery
of such a design would have meant capital punishment to the offender.
The workmen were therefore induced to get into large casks, which were
secretly conveyed on board a ship that was shortly sailing for England.
When the Pope received the intelligence some time afterwards, he
thundered forth against Mr. Chaloner and the workmen the most awful and
comprehensive curse. They were to be cursed most wholly and thoroughly
in every part of their bodies, every saint was to curse them, and from
the thresholds of the holy church of God Almighty they were to be
sequestered, that they might 'be tormented, disposed of, and delivered
over with Dathan and Abiram, and with those who say unto the Lord God,
"Depart from us; we desire not to know Thy ways."'
Despite the fearful nature of the curse, the venture prospered so much
that the Darcy family, about the year 1600, set up another works in the
neighbourhood of Guisborough; and as this also brought considerable
wealth to the owners, a third was started at Sandsend in 1615. Many
others followed, and in 1649 Sir Hugh Cholmley started the works close
to Saltwick Nab, within a short distance of his house at Whitby. But
although there must have been more than twenty of these works in
operation in the eighteenth century, owing to cheaper methods of
producing alum the industry is now quite extinct in Cleveland.
The broad valley stretching from Guisborough to the sea contains the
beautifully wooded park of Skelton Castle. The trees in great masses
cover the gentle slopes on either side of the Skelton Beck, and almost
hide the modern mansion. The buildings include part of the ancient
castle of the Bruces, who were Lords of Skelton for many years. It is
recorded that Peter de Brus, one of the barons who helped to coerce John
into signing the Great Charter at Runnymede, made a curious stipulation
when he granted some lands at Leconfield to Henry Percy, his sister's
husband. The property was to be held on condition that every Christmas
Day he and his heirs should come to Skelton Castle and lead the lady by
the arm from her chamber to the chapel.
The old church of Upleatham, standing by the road to Saltburn, is a
quaint fragment of a Norman building. The tower, bearing the inscription
'William Crow, Chvrchwarden Bvlded Stepel--1664,' is an addition to what
is probably only part of the nave of the little Norman building. It is
now used merely as a cemetery chapel, but it is picturesquely situated,
and on the north wall the carved Norman corbels may still be seen.