1100, Godricus de Finchale, a hermit, spends his old age in devotion in a cell in this place--1196, Hugh, Bishop of Durham, founds and endows the Abbey--1536, Dissolved. Annual revenue, £122, 15s. 3d. Engirt by trees and surrounded by wooded heights, this abbey on “Finches Haigh” (“low flat ground”) still retains a few old grey walls on the banks of the river Wear. Following the road from Durham, the “city on a hill,” one obtains the first view of the ruins from the west--where the long lane that leads from the high road dips towards the Priory. The church is of the Early English period, and until 1665 it retained its original stone spire. On each side of the nave are four piers, alternately round and hexagonal, supporting the exquisitely moulded arches which were built up during the 14th century--John of Tickhill being prior at the time. At this period, too, the aisles of the church were completely blocked up and Decorated windows were inserted--the south aisle becoming the northern alley of the cloister. These architectural alterations, which spoiled the beauty of a church originally perfect in its proportions, were probably inspired by the constant dread of Scottish invasion to which the Border counties were so peculiarly liable. Two beautiful lancet-windows light the north transept in which is an eastern chantry--while in the south transept may be seen an altar to St Godricus the Hermit, erected in the year 1256. The east wall of the choir has fallen, but the south-east turret still holds itself aloft.