Whitby Abbey's connection with Bram Stoker's Count Dracula is famous but there are other, less well-known links between Yorkshire's abbeys and a range of writers - including Alexandre Dumas, John Dryden, William Wordsworth, Walter Scott and the Brontes. Both Dumas and Dryden wrote about the scandalous doings of the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who lived in Helmsley and had an unfortunate impact on George Aislabie - owner of Studley Royal, while the abbot of Jervaulx appears as a character in Ivanhoe.
Views: 272 | Enquiries: 0Since retiring in 2015 as a specialist in career change, Peter has volunteered as a guide at Fountains Abbey (which receives the fees for these talks). He has also presented a radio programme - 'A History of the World Special' - about his Uncle Bryn, whose 5 years as a POW included six months in Auschwitz. While he was there, a Jewish prisoner painted a portrait of Bryn's wife. Peggy from a Red Cross postcard.
Peter's talks reflect his interest in the history of Yorkshire, especially its abbeys. The monks of the eight Cistercian abbeys were instrumental in rebuilding the county after the devastation of the Harrying of the North. This has led him to explore other links with Selby, Rotherham and Pontefract as well the numerous literary links of Yorkshire's abbeys - beyond Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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