The East Window of Selby Abbey, Yorkshire

The church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Germanus at Selby is one of the great monastic buildings of Yorkshire. At the Reformation the Benedictine abbey was among the wealthiest houses in the county, surpassed only by St Mary’s Abbey, York and Fountains. Its conventual buildings have disappeared virtually without trace, but the church, which was granted full parochial status in 1618, has continued as a place of worship, despite the destruction of the original south transept when the central tower collapsed in 1690 and severe damage to the interior caused by fire in 1906. The art and architecture of Selby remain comparatively little studied, although, as a surviving monastic church, it is clearly a building of some importance. 1