. The greater abbeys of England. d defaced it. The church was 300 feet by 69feet, with transepts 150 feet across, and the vaulting was60 feet above the floor. The central tower rose far intothe air to serve as a landmark by day, whilst by night thelights of St. Hildas tower shone far out to sea fromhigh Whitbys cloisterd pile to cheer and guide thosewho sailed in ships, over that long stretch of water with-out a harbour. It is impossible, says a modern writer, to imagine anything more grand than this noble minsterwhen complete, rising majestically 250 feet above the sea,and approached across t
. The greater abbeys of England. d defaced it. The church was 300 feet by 69feet, with transepts 150 feet across, and the vaulting was60 feet above the floor. The central tower rose far intothe air to serve as a landmark by day, whilst by night thelights of St. Hildas tower shone far out to sea fromhigh Whitbys cloisterd pile to cheer and guide thosewho sailed in ships, over that long stretch of water with-out a harbour. It is impossible, says a modern writer, to imagine anything more grand than this noble minsterwhen complete, rising majestically 250 feet above the sea,and approached across the deep valleys and mountainwastes of the Vale of Pickering. ... In the midst of thestorm or sea-fog the chime of its great bells cheered thesailors seeking refuge on that terrible coast, and in thedarkness of night the pale gleam of its lights was a beaconvisible leagues away—to that seamans eye it seemed thelustrous form of St. Hilda herself standing in one of thenorthern windows and guiding him with her lamp. [300] . WHITBY The story of Whitby, or as it was then called Streanes-halch—^which St. Bede tells us meant Lighthouse bay —goes back on the earliest days of Saxon 655 Oswy, King of Northumbria, attacked by Pendaof Mercia and Cadwalla, vowed to found twelve monas-teries if successful in the fight that was being forced uponhim. He was victorious, and keeping his word sent hisdaughter to be brought up in the monastery of Hartle-pool, over which Hilda, the great-niece of Edwin, pre-sided. Two years later, in 657, Hilda and Oswysdaughter Helflad went from Hartlepool to establish, onone of the estates promised by the King, the monastery ofStreaneshalch. Here St. Hilda for a long time ruled adouble community of men and women, and as she waseminent for her knowledge and piety, people of all rankscame to seek her counsel and aid; many of the monks ofthis monastery became priests, and several were raised tothe episcopate. We have no detailed account of the b
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