welcome to england

Hello and welcome! 

A lot has changed recently and life has gotten crazy. I had meant to begin this blog months ago, recording the process of applying to graduate school and then moving halfway across the world, but...the best laid plans! 

So instead here is a nice little opening post about a recent trip of mine for one of my masters classes to Roche Abbey in South Yorkshire, England. It's a beautiful Cistercian monastery nestled up against a cliffside in this long and perfectly misty valley.

It was a quintessential English day - cold and lightly raining, but still absolutely gorgeous.

A view from the monk's dormitory towards the church. Can you believe this was one of the poorest Cistercian houses in England? Their annual income was just under ₤230, which meant that they barely survived the First Act of Suppression (which dissolved all religious houses with annual incomes under ₤200 a year).

Through the north transept and into the valley. Although there was heavy destruction after the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII (a detailed, albeit secondhand, account of the spoilation was written down by Michael Sherbrook in 1591, and should be available to read online for those interested), Roche Abbey was actually not a complete ruin until one of the lords of Scarborough (I've forgotten which one) decided to tear down the remaining part of the north transept in order to create a better view of the 'ruins' from his house.

This was my favorite picture from the trip. 

We had such a nice day! I made banana bread for my classmates and my professor (who has insisted I bring a baked treat to class each week) and we snacked and, since we were the only ones there, we wandered around the abbey and our professor lectured to us from the 'pulpit' and it was a wonderful and informative trip!