5. Hull's Monastic Founders

The monastery of Meaux Abbey was located in a quiet countryside spot, around eight miles north of the river Humber to the east of Beverley.  Despite this isolated, rural home, the monks of Meaux were the founders of the town of Hull.  The monastery itself had been established in 1150 thanks to the kind generosity of William le Gros, Earl of York and grandson of Ralph de Mortimer. 

A group of monks from Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, were looking to expand and found a new house.  They visited William le Gros and helpfully reminded him that several years previously he had promised to go on crusade to the Holy Land.  Of course it would be marvellous if he still wished to spend a couple of years making the dangerous trip across Europe before battling to defend Jerusalem.  Alternatively both God and the Pope would probably be happy enough if William demonstrated his religious devotion by helping to found a monastery instead.

William saw the benefits of the plan and suggested possible locations for the new monastery on his estate.  The monks though already knew the site they wanted.  It was a piece of land that William had recently acquired to create a deer park.  It offered abundant pasture for grazing, access to woodland, and excellent transport links via nearby rivers.  Plus the slightly marshy ground and risk of flooding served as an ideal reminder that God tests even the most holy.  William, thinking of treasures in heaven rather then hunting pleasures on earth, agreed to gift it to the monks.

The monasteries at both Fountains and Meaux belonged to the Cistercian order.  Cistercian monks aimed to live a life of austerity, simplicity and solitude.  Other monastic orders were based in towns: places of sinful temptations and unscrupulous business.  Cistercians lived surrounded by nature to encourage contemplation and wore distinctive white habits to demonstrate their purity.  Whatever their unworldly aims though, Cistercians still needed food to eat and money to create monastic buildings worthy of their godly purpose. 

The Cistercian’s solution was to create outlying farms, called granges, which were staffed not by monks but by lay members of the community.  By 1182 Meaux had acquired the estate of Myton to establish such a grange.  Granges grew a variety of food but their isolated locations made them ideal places to farm sheep.  These sheep provided milk and meat but most importantly wool.  Cistercian monasteries across England ended up producing huge amounts of wool, much of which was exported to the continent.  By 1210 Meaux Abbey was exporting wool from at port at the mouth of the river Hull.

Picture: Section from map by John Speede, circa 1610, showing the location of Hull and Meaux/Moux