Vikings in Rosedale Abbey

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Just like many visitors to this region today, when the Vikings began to visit the North Yorkshire coast in the Ninth Century  they found the North York Moors to their liking.

They eventually settled the area and established their own society known as the Danelaw, which made this part of Yorkshire into a Danish Kingdom with its political centre based at Jorvik - modern-day York.

The Vikings brought with them their language to the North York Moors; and elements remain a thousand year's later in our local dialect.

This is especially the case in the place names of local villages ending in "by" (a farm) such as Danby; "ton" (a village) such as Castleton; and "dale"(a valley) such as Rosedale.

Castelton sign

Many Local Placenames - Such as Castleton - Have Viking Origins.

Historians agree that that Rosedale’s name has Viking origins.

There are three possible roots to "Rosedale" but none have anything to do with roses!

The first possibility is that "Rose" is a derivation of "Rossi", which could be a personal name of some important Viking clansman.

"Rossi" is also a Viking name or the word for a horse.

The third possibility is that the village is named for "rhos", which meant "moor" to the Viking invaders.

And Rosedale is certainly surrounded on all sides by the highland of the North York Moors.

Interestingly, the name "Abbey" in application to the village of Rosedale Abbey in Rosedale is also a bit of a misnomer too.

There has never been an "Abbey" in Rosedale.

Instead, there once was a Cistercian Priory in Rosedale Abbey which was settled by small group of nuns who built and inhabited the Priory from 1158 AD onwards.

The difference between an Abbey and Priory is that Nuns live in a Priory and monks live in an Abbey.

Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1535 brought an end to the Priory.

The Priory buildings were dismantled from the 1850s onwards, when the stone was robbed-away for building much of present-day Rosedale Abbey.

The Church of St Lawrence and St Mary and the lovely churchyard that surrounds it are built on top of the original Priory.

Rosedale Abbey Church 1

The Church in Rosedale Abbey with the Priory Staircase on the Right.

One tower of the old Priory can still be seen just outside the west door of the Church.

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