Easby Abbey Premonstratensian monastery: monastic precinct, cultivation terraces, water-management features and ancillary buildi

Heritage listing

Details The Premonstratensian Abbey of St Agatha at Easby is situated on the east bank of the River Swale south east of Richmond. The monument comprises the standing remains and inner precinct of the monastery and a number of associated features including the gatehouse, the remains of cultivation terraces, a mill-race and drain, and the ruins of a monastic barn. The Parish Church of St Agatha and its attached churchyard, both of which are adjacent to the abbey and in current ecclesiastical use, are totally excluded from this scheduling. The situation of Easby Abbey, sandwiched between the River Swale and the steeply rising slope to the east, led to a number of irregularities in the layout of the cloister ranges. It was usual for the monks' dorter (dormitory) to occupy the first floor of the east range, providing easy access both to the reredorter (latrine) and the quire of the abbey church, that is, the stalls between the east end and the nave where the monks sang the offices. However, the position of the former was usually dictated by the availability of natural or canalised running water and, at Easby, this led to the dorter, guesthouse and reredorter being incorporated into the west range in order to take full advantage of the river's proximity. A channel was taken off the river north of the cloister buildings and ran north-south, acting both as a mill-race for the abbey mill and as a drain, flushing the reredorter and surviving underground as a flagged and canalised `tunnel' 1.5m high. This drain curves back to rejoin the river through the gardens of properties on Easby Green. One of these, Abbey House, incorporates a monastic barn or granary. The barn has six single light windows in the west wall at ground level and two at first floor level. An arched doorway survi

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.