---
title: "Whitby Abbey"
description: "Located in Whitby, Yorkshire. Built Anglo-Saxon house founded c.656; Benedictine church ruins mainly 13th–14th century; dissolved 1539. Grade I. Early English and Decorated Gothic (ruins) style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","English Heritage","Yorkshire","Whitby","Grade I","Abbey","Benedictine","Anglo-Saxon","St Hilda"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/whitby-abbey-whitby"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T03:05:42.988Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-07T20:33:30.749Z"
location: "Whitby, Yorkshire"
country: "England"
county: "Yorkshire"
town: "Whitby"
address: "Abbey Lane, Whitby, Yorkshire, YO22 4JT"
postcode: "YO22 4JT"
built: "Anglo-Saxon house founded c.656; Benedictine church ruins mainly 13th–14th century; dissolved 1539"
denomination: "English Heritage"
grade: "I"
style: "Early English and Decorated Gothic (ruins)"
website: "https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/whitby-abbey/"
openingHours: "Open 10am to 4pm."
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1316347"
gridReference: "NZ 903 112"
accessNotes: "Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby"
---

# Whitby Abbey

The ruins of Whitby Abbey crown East Cliff above the harbour, a Grade I listed Benedictine church on the site of St Hild’s seventh-century double house, in the care of English Heritage.

## Overview

Historic England’s listed-building description records a house founded by Oswy, King of Northumbria, about 656, with St Hilda as first abbess; destroyed by the Danes about 870; and refounded for the Benedictines by Reinfrid, a soldier of William the Conqueror. Extensive ruins of the church date from the early twelfth to the fourteenth century. The listing NGR is NZ 903 112.

The scheduled-monument account (1017941) places Streoneshalh as a double house of men and women. The abbey was refounded as a Benedictine priory by 1077 and as an abbey by 1109; it was suppressed in 1539. Standing fabric of the church is largely of two early thirteenth-century phases, with fourteenth- and fifteenth-century additions. The church was almost complete as late as 1711; large parts collapsed about 1736 and 1762. The west front was damaged by German naval bombardment in 1914. The site has been in state care since 1920. After the Dissolution the precinct passed to Richard Cholmley (freehold 1555). The ruins inspired Bram Stoker’s *Dracula*.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1316347 (ruins)](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1316347)
- [Historic England scheduled monument 1017941](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1017941)
- [English Heritage: Whitby Abbey](https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/whitby-abbey/)