The market town of Selby is dominated by the former Abbey, now the town’s parish church but originally built to serve a Benedictine monastery. It is one of those rare cathedral-sized survivors of the Dissolution that have come down to us through parochial use largely intact while the vast majority were left in ruins or disappeared altogether. Thus Selby is an architectural gem and reminder of what we have lost elsewhere.
The monastic complex itself has entirely vanished, what remains is the entire abbey church (unusually complete, more often such great buildings were only partially preserved, if at all). Much of the Norman building remains, the nave being a good example of Romanesque architecture, whilst the choir is a fine exercise in Decorated Gothic from the 14th century with an attractive east window whose glass closely follows the original design. The three towers add great dignity to the building, however these are mostly early 20th century additions, necessitated by other episodes in the abbey’s history less fortunate than it’s being spared by the Dissolution.
The church’s fortunes took a turn for the worst in 1690 when the upper half of the Norman central tower collapsed, demolishing the south transept as it fell which remained in ruins until more recently. The top of the tower was later rebuilt in Georgian style but this was removed by the end of the Victorian period during a thorough restoration of the building (no doubt a replacement was intended but not immediately realised).
Disaster then struck in 1906 when a major fire engulfed the building (starting in the organ-chamber off the north transept) and destroyed all the furniture of the choir and the high ceilings of nave, choir and transept, leaving the church in a pitiful ruined state. Remarkably the town rallied behind restoration and the entire church was repaired and back in full use within three years of the calamity.
More remarkable still was additional transformation of the exterior that followed under architect John Oldrid Scott who finally rebuilt the upper stage of the central tower and the south transept (both truncated since 1690) in 1912. Finally in 1935 the west towers were raised to their present height (they were never completed in medieval times) giving us the majestic triple-towered church we see today for the first time in its history, and a church transformed more successfully and dramatically in the space of a few years than anyone generally might realise from its homogeneous appearance today.
Stepping into the great church today one is often aware that so much has been restored in the early 20th century, but the work has been beautifully done and some old features such as the wooden font-cover survived the blaze. Other elements were less lucky, the 14th century glass in the east window suffered badly and what we see today is a careful copy of the original (a few fragments of the original can be seen in the north choir aisle nearby). Throughout the church the high ceilings are adorned with gloriously gilded bosses that enliven the interior, most again are copies of the burned originals but successfully echo the medieval spirit.
Selby Abbey is one of the great churches of England and can’t fail to impress the visitor. It is generally open to visitors and I found the locals very welcoming. I hope to return again some day.
www.selbyabbey.org.uk/
For a more entertainingly written while highly informative summary of the Abbey’s architecture see below:-
stainedglassattitudes.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/selby-the-…
