Before leaving the town of Selby, let us look at the commonplace little square called Church Hill. A spirit-level might reveal it to be an eminence of twelve inches or so above the common level of Selby, but to the evidence of eyes or feet it is in no way distinguished from its neighbouring streets. Yet it must have presented the appearance of a hillock when the original founder of the Abbey came here in 1068, voyaging up the Ouse and landing at this first likely place on its then lovely banks. This founder was a certain Benedict, a monk of Auxerre, who, having one of those convenient dreams which came to the pious ones of that time when they wanted to steal something, made off with the Holy Finger of St. Germanus; rather appropriate spoil, by the way, for the light-fingered Benedict. Arriving in England, he met an Englishman who gave him a golden reliquary. With this, he took ship from Lyme Regis and sailed to the Humber and the Ouse; landing, as we have seen, here, and planting a cross on the river bank, where he erected a hut for himself under an oak-tree. A few days later, Hugh, the Norman sheriff of Yorkshire, came up the Ouse, by chance, and not, as might be supposed, to arrest Benedict on a charge of petty larceny. He was impressed by the devoutness of the holy man, and sent workmen to build the original wooden place of worship at Selby, on the spot now known as Church Hill, not a stone’s throw from the existing Abbey. [Picture: Market Place, Selby] Centuries passed. The first building was swept away, and even the cemetery which afterwards occupied the site was forgotten and built over, becoming a square of houses, among which was the “Crown” inn. From 1798 until 1876, when it was rebuilt, the old “Crown” kept an odd secret. To understand this, we must go back to 1798, when the neighbourhood of Selby acquired an ill name for highway robberies. Among other outrages, a mailbag was stolen from the York postboy, on the evening of February 22 in that year. The Postmaster of York reported the affair to the Postmaster-General in the following terms:— “SIR,