236 



RUINS IN YORKSHIRE. 



BY J. G. 

 MOUNT-GRACE PRIORY. 



In the parish of East Harlsey, wapentake of Birdsforth, North 

 Riding, seven miles from Northallerton, nine from Stokesley, and 

 eleven from Thirsk, are situated the romantic ruins of Mount-Grace 

 Priory, which was founded and endowed in the reign of Richard the 

 second, who at the special instance of Thomas de Holland, duke of 

 Surrey, granted to Edmund, Prior of the House of Mount-Grace 

 and the monks thereof (who were of the Carthusian order) certain 

 lands and possessions in the county of Leicester and Southampton- 

 shire, for its support. 



The vale in which these remarkable ruins are situated is shut in 

 on the south-east by a lofty hill clothed with wood, which adds a 

 solemn grandeur to the scene, and the ruins of the monastery, though 

 at no great distance from the road, being sheltered from public view 

 "embosomed high in tufted trees," escapes the general notice of 

 strangers. 



The building is approached on the west by a narrow lane, leading 

 from the main road into the quadrangle of the monastery, the outer 

 walls of which enclose about three acres of ground and are still 

 standing thickly mantled with ivy. 



The church, which stood on the north-side of the first court, and 

 is now in ruins, was in the form of a cross, with the tower, which is 

 still perfect, rising in the centre, supported by four light gothic 

 arches. Besides the eastern window (which, as well as the walls of 

 the chancel, is now levelled with the gi'ound) the church was lighted 

 on the west by a door under a pointed arch, and from the nave, on 

 the north, was an arched doorway, for the admittance of the religious 

 from the cloisters. The entrance into the chancel was through the 

 arches supporting the tower. The vestry room appears to have been 

 on the north-side of the chan:el, which, like every other part of the 

 building, is now roofless. 



The second or inner court is surrounded by double walls, and 



