Simon Marsden
Roche Abbey, Yorkshire, England
Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
41 x 31 cms
16 1/8 x 12 1/4 ins
16 1/8 x 12 1/4 ins
SM012
Literature
Simon Marsden, 'This Spectred Isle. A journey through haunted England', 2005, Illustrated and text P.126-127
Inscribed with title and signature on the back. 'Although smaller in size than other Cistercian abbeys, like Rievaulx and Byland, Roche still boasts some of the finest early Gothic architecture...
Inscribed with title and signature on the back.
'Although smaller in size than other Cistercian abbeys, like Rievaulx and Byland, Roche still boasts some of the finest early Gothic architecture in the country. Founded around 1180 in an isolated rocky valley, it survived until the Dissolution in the mid-16th century. As soon as the deed of surrender was signed on 23 June 1538, and before and orderly dismantling and auction could take place, a mob of local people descended on the abbey and, in a chaotic free-for-all, pillaged the stone, lead, tiles, paving, and anything else they thought might be useful.
The ruins that remained were neglected until they were in the ownership of the third Earl of Scarborough in the 18th century. This was the Romantic Age when desolation and solitude were regarded as the height of fashion - Mother Nature at her most sublime. As a result the abbey ruins were greatly admired. Horace Walpole, author of the Gothic novel 'The Castle of Otranto' wrote approvingly that they were 'hid in such a venerable chasm that you might lie concealed there even from a squire person of the parish. Lord Scarborough, to whom it belongs, neglects it as much as if he was afraid of ghosts.'
Lord Scarborough was delighted that Roche was hailed as the epitome of romance, and commissioned Lancelot 'Capability' Brown to make the beautiful ruins even more picturesque. He was told to design a scheme that would appeal to the 'poet's feeling and painter's eye'. When the work was completed the abbey was adorned with grass parterres, terracing, waterfalls, numerous trees and an artificial lake with islands.
Once thing remained constant - Roche's ghostly monks, who seem to have been silent witnesses to the many changes. There are inevitable numerous tales of monkish figures, one of the most frequently reported being a man dressed in a long white habit (like the ones worn by Cistercian monks) who walks the ruins with a pronounced limp. In 1978 he appeared to two children near the old monks' cemetery near the church, terrifying them with his ghostly pallor and gaunt, skull-face like.'
Extract from Simon Marsden, 'This Spectred Isle. A journey through haunted England', 2005, P.126-127
'Although smaller in size than other Cistercian abbeys, like Rievaulx and Byland, Roche still boasts some of the finest early Gothic architecture in the country. Founded around 1180 in an isolated rocky valley, it survived until the Dissolution in the mid-16th century. As soon as the deed of surrender was signed on 23 June 1538, and before and orderly dismantling and auction could take place, a mob of local people descended on the abbey and, in a chaotic free-for-all, pillaged the stone, lead, tiles, paving, and anything else they thought might be useful.
The ruins that remained were neglected until they were in the ownership of the third Earl of Scarborough in the 18th century. This was the Romantic Age when desolation and solitude were regarded as the height of fashion - Mother Nature at her most sublime. As a result the abbey ruins were greatly admired. Horace Walpole, author of the Gothic novel 'The Castle of Otranto' wrote approvingly that they were 'hid in such a venerable chasm that you might lie concealed there even from a squire person of the parish. Lord Scarborough, to whom it belongs, neglects it as much as if he was afraid of ghosts.'
Lord Scarborough was delighted that Roche was hailed as the epitome of romance, and commissioned Lancelot 'Capability' Brown to make the beautiful ruins even more picturesque. He was told to design a scheme that would appeal to the 'poet's feeling and painter's eye'. When the work was completed the abbey was adorned with grass parterres, terracing, waterfalls, numerous trees and an artificial lake with islands.
Once thing remained constant - Roche's ghostly monks, who seem to have been silent witnesses to the many changes. There are inevitable numerous tales of monkish figures, one of the most frequently reported being a man dressed in a long white habit (like the ones worn by Cistercian monks) who walks the ruins with a pronounced limp. In 1978 he appeared to two children near the old monks' cemetery near the church, terrifying them with his ghostly pallor and gaunt, skull-face like.'
Extract from Simon Marsden, 'This Spectred Isle. A journey through haunted England', 2005, P.126-127
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