The Wyre Forest and District Centre's season of indoor meetings began with an illustrated talk on The Abbeys and Priories of Yorkshire, by Eric Greenwood.
He told how, before the dissolution, there were about 1,000 monasteries in England and Wales, 83 of them in Yorkshire.
The first one, a Benedictine monastery founded at Whitby, in 657, was ruined in a Viking raid in 867, but later rebuilt. St Mary's, York (1088) and Selby Abbey (1069) were also early foundations.
There were eight Cistercian monasteries in Yorkshire, including Fountains Abbey, now a trust property.
Augustinian canons founded Bridlington Priory, the nave of which is in the present parish church. Bolton Abbey, in Wharfedale, is on the Duke of Devonshire's estate.
The Guilbertine order was founded in England and they built Old Moulton Abbey. The Carthusian order built Mount Grace, near Northallerton.
Details of the activities of this group can be obtained from secretary Marjorie Fernihough on 01562 883460.
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