Selby: How a tale of three swans and a monk's vision founded one of Yorkshire's finest abbeys
Now, with lottery funding secured as a first step towards exploring more, these Origins stories could one day be at the centre of the abbey - and indeed the town's - story.
The Origins Project, with around £1m more to be sought in time, aims to tease out the tales of the abbey's once famous monastery, brought down by Henry VIII, and of the many rich kings' visits before the collapse of a tower and then two disastrous fires.
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Hide AdSelby Abbey has always been key to the fortunes of the pretty market town that now surrounds it. The two, said Canon John Weetman, are tightly intertwined.
He said: "The project is to discover more about how the abbey came to be, and indeed how the town has grown up around it. What was it like here, when the abbey was in full flow?"
The wider project, with development work, capital restoration and a community-based activity programme, is a "step closer" to preserving it for another millennium.
"It's finding all sorts of different ways, through visual arts, music, drama, dance, to engage more people in the history of the abbey and how the town itself came to be here."
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Hide AdSelby Abbey, from around 1070 , was founded on the site of an earlier hermitage of Benedict of Auxerre. The monk is said to have experienced a vision, where he was called upon by St Germain to start a new monastery at 'Selebiae', on a site to be marked by three swans.
On a great journey from France he had taken first a wrong turn, confusing Salisbury with Selebiae. Finally, at the bend of the River Ouse at Selby, three swans alighted the river.
Ever since, the swans have stood as the Abby Arms, with St Germaine as its patron saint. Over the years a rich history has unfolded, with the collapse of a tower and destructive fires. In 1906, an incredible blaze prompted the most drastic restoration of all.
With the rebuilt, and a great window to be filled with fine stained glass in 1914, came the Germanus Window, or St Germain Window, with 46 scenes from the saint's life and legend.
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Hide AdNow, Selby Abbey has stood for close to 1,000 years as a 'testament to endurance', with the project to be focused on this north transept as the oldest fabric of the building.
Applications of this kind are assessed in two rounds, with this first grant of £150,000 from the National Heritage Lottery Fund helping it work towards a second delivery bid for just over £1m. Partners include Selby Abbey PCC, the abbey's trust, and North Yorkshire Council.
To Canon Weetman, there may be a long road ahead, but this is the first step: "It's a great opportunity to interpret that history, and involve people in its future."