The great Augustinian Priory of St Mary of Gyseburn, or Gisborough as it came to be known, was one of the earliest houses of the order in England. Founded in about 1119 by Robert de Brus, the greatest Norman lord in northeast Yorkshire, and richly endowed, it became one of the greatest Yorkshire monasteries. At its suppression in 1540 it was the fourth richest house in the county. Its buildings, now reduced to fragments, evidence building campaigns of the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. At the church in Gisborough Priory, of which the east wall remains virtually intact, was one of the finest in the north of England, and parts of its equally impressive predecessors on the site have been revealed by recent excavation. This handbook takes visitors on a tour of the site, pointing out features of special interest and (with the help of reconstruction illustrations) explaining how the priory appeared at different times throughout the centuries of its existence. The history of the priory, from its foundation to the Dissolution, is told, with an interesting insight into the life of the religious community at Gisborough Priory.
Confusingly the names of the town and the priory have been spelt differently, Guisborough and Gisborough, for centuries.