The ruins in the York Museum Gardens are all that remains of one of the wealthiest and most powerful Benedictine monasteries in England. First built in 1088, the abbey estate occupied the entire site of the Museum Gardens and the abbot was one of the most powerful clergymen of his day, on a par with the Archbishop of York. The stone walls that surrounded the abbey were built in the 1260s and they remain the most complete set of abbey walls in the country.
Examples of standing Roman remains in York are in the Museum Gardens with fine stretches of the fortress wall.
Visitors to the York Museum Gardens are able to see the birds of prey on display showcasing a European eagle owl named Olive and a Harris hawk named Leon.
The York Museum Gardens are botanic gardens in the center of York, England, beside the River Ouse. They cover an area of 10 acres of the former grounds of St Mary’s Abbey, and were created in the 1830s by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society along with the Yorkshire Museum which they contain.
