A reconstruction of how St Mary’s Abbey may have looked

Inside the Museum Gardens stands the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey, which for over 400 years was the wealthiest and most powerful abbey in the North of England and rivalled York Minster in splendour. In 1539 the Abbey was shut down by King Henry VIII. Like all other abbeys, priories and friaries its buildings were sold off and stripped to fund Henry’s war with Catholic France. Anger at the closure of the first convent led to “The pilgrimage of Grace” in October 1536, when 35,000 rebel pilgrims entered York demanding a return to the rule of the Pope and an elected parliament in York. Tricked in to standing down by Henry VIII, the leader Robert Aske was executed. His body hung in chains for a month from Cliffords Tower as a warning to Northern Catholics. When Guy Fawkes was growing up in York the once sacred Abbey had become a quarry for stone. From the Museum Gardens follow the City Walls to Micklegate Bar.