Meaux Abbey - a forgotten part of Hull's history

Meaux Abbey earthworks in winter

(copyright Paul Glazzard,

used under creative commons license)

If you go to Meaux Abbey, about seven miles north of Hull, don't expect to find impressive remains like those at Fountains or Rievaulx. Even if you managed to find the tiny hamlet of Meaux there is nothing left of the Abbey but a few earthworks. It is hard to believe that those few bumps in a field were once an influential Cistercian house like Rievaulx without which the city of Hull would never have existed.



Kilnsey Old Hall, a grange of Fountains Abbey
(copyright the author, 2009)

The monasteries were a key part of the mediaeval economy and owned large areas of land and property. To provide money for the monks, lay brothers ran farms called granges* which not only provided food and clothing for the brothers but produce for sale. A key product was wool. Around 1200AD the abbey acquired land at Myton and established a grange there. The settlement which grew up around it was called Wyke and would become the town of Hull. Myton was ideally situated, where the river Hull flows out into the Humber, for the export of fleeces from the Abbey's lands to markets in Western Europe. Like many fine churches in East Anglia, Hull's beautiful Holy Trinity Church was built with the proceeds of the wool trade in around 1300


Holy Trinity Church, Hull

(copyright David Wright 2006,

used under creative commons license)

.

At this time, the Abbey was busily draining large areas of land in the Hull Valley and creating more pasture for livestock. In the process it formed many of the inland waterways which still link to the River Hull today. Beverley Beck, for example, is a very ancient watercourse that carried wool the couple of miles from from the town's market to the River Hull and down to the Humber.

'Wyke of Hull' rapidly became one of the most successful wool towns in the country. By 1205, only London, Boston, Southampton and Kings Lynn paid more in wool tax, and Wyke exceeded not only traditional local wool markets like Beverley and Hedon but also the city of York. Most of the wool merchants were from elsewhere, particularly the continental regions of Flanders, Holland, Germany and France. English merchants were from local wool towns like Beverley. Instead, the Abbey and inhabitants of Wyke made their money from port dues and from all the infrastructure that went with the mercantile trade such as inns. The Abbey was the effective civil as well as ecclesiastical authority in the town with its own jail and courts.

By the late 13th century Meaux Abbey had got itself into financial difficulties. It had also come to the attention of the King that Wyke was a much more favourable port than the ports of Ravenser and Hedon which already belonged to the crown. Thus in 1293 Edward I acquired the town and its port. The abbey was very disgruntled at the price, but presumably was not in a position to argue when the buyer was the king and when they were deep in debt. Thus came to an end the influence of the Cistercians in the area. In 1299 Edward I granted a royal charter and Wyke began a new era as 'the King's town on the river Hull'. It has proudly borne three gold crowns on its coat of arms ever since, although ironically has been something of a hot-bed of republicanism from the Civil War, when it refused entry to King Charles I, to the present day when it was the only city in the country not to apply for any licenses to hold a street party to commemorate the Queen's jubilee!

One look at a map shows the wisdom of Edward's choice. The town of Ravenser no longer exists at all, having been long since lost to coastal erosion, and the village of Hedon is now so far from water it is hard to believe it was once a port. Wyke, on the other hand, is now a city of more than 250,000 people and went on to become one of the wealthiest mercantile towns in the north. But more of that in a later post...

* A good example of a grange can be seen at Kilnsey in Wharfedale which belonged to Fountains Abbey. Wool was taken from Kilnsey along Mastiles Lane. This monastic drover's road can still be followed from Kilnsey to Malham and is a very pleasant walk of about 5 miles.