Sir Walter L'Espec

• General Notes
  • Walter Espec, Lord of Helmsley and a Royal Justiciar who was subject of Henry I of England and also of King David of Scotland, was largely responsible for bringing the Cistercians to England. He had brought Augustinians to Yorkshire at Kirkham in 1121-1122. He and Archbishop Thurston of York were also interested in the new Cistercian order, which had settled at Waverly in Surrey 1128.
    
    Perhaps it was the addition of a small group of monks from Yorkshire who had entered Clairvaux that finally prompted Bernard in 1131 to lay plans for a Cistercian mission to England. Whereas Waverly would colonize the south of England, Bernard saw Rievaulx as a chance to colonize the north of England. He wrote to King Henry I of England and claimed that, "In your land there is an outpost of your Lord and my Lord, and outpost he has preferred to die for than to loose. I have proposed to occupy it and am sending men from my army who will, if it is not displeasing to you, claim it, recover it, and restore it with a strong hand." The emissaries whom Bernard sent with the letter were also to survey the proposed site.
    
    On March 5, 1132, twelve monks from Clairvaulx led by Abbot William, a former master of the schools of York, settled in the valley of the River Rye two miles from Walter Espec's castle. Espec donated over 1,000 acres to the Abbey. Building started in 1132 and was overseen by a monk from Clairvaux named "Geoffroi," who was probably the same monk who supervised the construction of Fountains Abbey on year later in 1133.
    
    Rievaulx was intended to serve as a mission center, and began to establish daughter houses as early as 1136. Warden in Bedfordshire was also endowed by Espec, while Espec's lord King David of Scotland endowed Melrose and Dundrennan in 1142 in Scotland. Eight more monasteries emanated from these two Scottish houses before 1273. Two other daughter houses were founded in England: Revesby and Rufford. Walter Espec tried to convert the Augustinian house of Kirkham he had founded to a daughter house of Rievaulx in 1139, but the agreement was never carried out.
    
    Source:  Rievaulx, A Virtual Tour
    http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/medieval/rie/rievaulx.shtml
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    In the year 1121, A.D., there lived a certain Sir Walter L'Espec and his wife Adeline, the happy parents of one only and noble son.
    
    This adored son, though a good horseman, was thrown from his hunter and killed. The grief of his parents equalled that of the Lady of Egremont: they were rich in gold and land and had no heir. In his sorrow Sir Walter applied to the Rector of Garton, his uncle, for consolation, and the good priest advised him to make Christ his heir, by devoting his wealth to the foundation of churches and religious houses.
    
    Sir Walter took his counsel to heart, and founded the Abbeys of Kirkham and Rievaulx, in Yorkshire, and Wardon, in Bedfordshire. It is said that the altar of Kirkham Priory (where masses would be said for his soul) was placed on the very spot where the heir of the L'Especs had met his early death.
    
    The ruins of Kirkham can be seen from the York and Scarborough Railway, and can be visited either going to or returning from Castle Howard. The ruin, with its fine tall Gothic arch, has the Derwent in front, falling in a mimic cascade, and rich woodland scenery in the background. The principal portion of the ruin, as it now stands, is the gateway; judging from which the priory must have been a magnificent building. The gateway is said to date from the time of Edward I. It is very slightly pointed, an example of the transition from the Early English to the Decorated style of architecture. It is surmounted by a large pediment, crocketed and terminating in a finial. Above the archway are two windows with two lights each with trefoil heads. Above the windows, and over the spaces adjoining and between them, are four crocketed pediments. The whole is surmounted by a broken quatrefoil panelling. Between the windows are two niches with statues, much mutilated; there are other niches on the gateway, in which some statues still remain. Among them are St. Peter, David and Goliath, St. George and the dragon, etc. There are also heraldic shields bearing the arms of the priory, etc. Of the church the east-end of the chancel remains, and its mouldings and carvings are of great beauty: some portion of the cloisters are also still to be seen.
    Source:  Kirkham Priory
    http://www.mspong.org/picturesque/kirkham_priory.html
    
    The ruins of Kirkham priory are situated on the banks of the River Derwent, Yorkshire, at Kirkham, Yorkshire. The Augustinian priory was founded in the 1120s by Walter l'Espec, lord of nearby Helmsley, who also built the Abbey of Rievaulx. Legend has it that Kirkham was founded in rememberence of l'Espec's only son who had died nearby after falling from his horse. It was later used to test the D-Day landing vehicles, and was visited by Winston Churchill.
    Source: Wikipedia
    
    HELMSLEY CASTLE AND DUNCOMBE PARK
    Helmsley is a pretty Ryedale market town situated on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors. Its most notable features are Helmsley castle and Duncombe Park. Built in the twelfth century by Walter l'Espec and rebuilt by Robert de Roos around 1200, the castle lies at the western end of Helmsley Market Place. It was dismantled in 1644 after surrendering to the onslaught of the Parliamentary General Sir Thomas Fairfax, during the Civil War but was patched up and occupied for a time be the second Duke of Buckingham.
    
    RIEVAULX ABBEY
    Rievaulx Abbey in the Rye Valley just to the north of Helmsley was founded in 1132 by Cistercian monks from Clairvaulx in France. It was the first Cistercian abbey in Yorkshire and was established on land granted by Walter l'Espec. Rievalulx (French for Rye valley) is one of the most impressive ruined monasteries in the North, particularly because of its location in the wooded valley of the Rye. Rievaulx like many other Yorkshire monasteries remained in use until the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII. (See also Jervaulx Abbey and Fountains Abbey)
    
    Source:  Northeast England History Pages
    http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/Ryedale.htm