The abbey was founded in AD657 on the site of what may previously have been a Roman signal station. The Synod of AD664 was held here – the two branches of early English Christianity, the Celtic and Roman churches, debating the matter that divided them most: the dating of Easter. The Synod decided in favour of the Roman tradition – a turning point that has repercussions into modern times.

Whitby Abbey was destroyed during a Viking invasion in AD867, but one of William the Conqueror’s knights revived it in the late 1070s. By 1220, his Norman church proved inadequate for the many pilgrims who visited it and so rebuilding began. After its dissolution in 1538, Whitby Abbey passed to the Cholmley family, who proceeded to build a mansion largely out of materials plundered from the monastery. Parts of this building have been incorporated into the 19th-century Abbey House.