THE KING’S MANOR, YORK. 
49 
proceeded apace, and, until this work was completed, the old 
Church of S. Olave was used as the Abbey Church, and 
the house was known as the Abbey of St. Olave. In the year 
1088, William Rufus, when at York, visited St. Olave’s, and find¬ 
ing the accommodation insufficient, he considerably enlarged the 
donation of Earl Alan, and in the following year, 1089, laid the 
foundation of a new Church, the dedication being changed from 
St. Olave to that of most Benedictine Houses, St. Mary the 
Virgin. 
This Norman King also granted great privileges and immunities 
to St. Mary’s Abbey, which rapidly grew in wealth and importance, 
until, in the course of time, it became the most important in the 
North of England. The Lord Abbot of St. Mary’s and the Lord 
Abbot of Selby were the only mitred Abbots North of the 
Trent, and, by virtue of this rank, they sat as Spiritual Peers with 
the Bishops in the House of Lords. The Abbot of St. Mary’s had 
places of residence at Deighton and Overton, as well as a London 
house, which was situated near St. Paul’s wharfe, for use when 
his Parliamentary and other duties required his presence there. 
The Abbot had jurisdiction not only over the Monastery, but in 
an extensive district known as the liberty of St. Mary. He held 
courts and sentenced to imprisonment or death. The prison was 
probably the lower portion of the building still attached to the 
Abbey gateway, the upper portion being the court-room. 
Many Churches were given to the Abbey at various times, 
including St. Olave’s, St. Wilfred’s, St. Andrew’s, St. Saviour’s, 
St. Michael at Ouse Bridge end, and St. Crux, all in York. In 
the County of Yorkshire there were thirty-eight other Churches 
belonging to the Abbey, and several in other counties. Besides 
these Churches, there were in various parts of the county 
several cells, or dependent Priories, belonging to the Abbey. 
Fountains Abbey is also an off-shoot of St. Mary’s. For in 
1132 a company of sixteen monks, dissatisfied with the discipline 
of St. Mary’s, and desirous of keeping a stricter rule, after a scene 
of great violence placed themselves under the protection of Arch¬ 
bishop Thurstan, and, under his patronage, founded the Cistercian 
Abbey of Fountains, near Ripon. 
The first Priory of St. Mary was destroyed in the great fire in 
the reign of Stephen, and in 1271, Abbot Simon of Warwick 
commenced the work of building a new Abbey Church, Sitting 
in his chair, trowel in hand, surrounded by the whole fraternity, 
D 
