Whitby Abbey's connection with Bram Stoker's Dracula is famous but there are other less well-known links between Yorkshire abbeys and a range of writers - including Alexandre Dumas, John Dryden, William Wordsworth, Walter Scott and Jeannette Winterson. 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 the Aislabies - owners of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, while the abbot of Jervaulx appears as a character in Ivanhoe.
Views: 34 | 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. The programme focusses on an object belonging to his Uncle Bryn - an oil painting of Bryn's wife. Peggy - which was painted in Auschwitz by a Jewish prisoner while Bryn, a POW at Stalag VIIIB, was there on a 6 month working party
Peter's talks reflect his interest in the history of Yorkshire, especially the Cistercian abbeys, founded from Burgundy. Their monks were instrumental in rebuilding the county after the devastation of the Harrying of the North. This has led him to explore other Burgundian links with Selby, Rotherham and Pontefract as well as writers inspired by Yorkshire's abbeys.
If you are interested in this talk and wish to contact the speaker, please complete the following form: