Selby Abbey

The first building on this site as a monastery built following the Norman Conquest with the land been given by King William the Conqueror. The present Abbey was built over a period of 130 years.
At the time of the Dissolution of 1539 some of the monasteric buildings were destroyed but the Abbey survived to become the Parish Church. Over many years the Abbey began to fall apart and in 1690 part of the Abbey fell down, it was repaired in the 1870s but in the early 1900s a fire caused the loss of the Naves timber roof, local people realised what was begining to happen to the building and rallied round to pay for the repairs, although this took 4 years to raise the money and do the work it required. One of the most interesting features about the Abbey is the story behind the window high up in the South Aisle of the Choir, it bears a coat of arms which includes 3 stars and 2 stripes and its said this was used for the basis of the Stars and Stripes flag of the USA!
Now the Abbey is in urgent need of repairs, it has been listed in the "101 most endangered historical sites in the world". This is the first Anglican church ever to appear on this list, there is now an appeal to raise £5M for repairs to be done over the next 10 years.