Walter Espec, founder of the Cistercian abbey
of Rievaulx, died c. 1153 leaving no heirs. His inheritance therefore
passed through Walter’s sisters to the Ros family of Holderness.
It was Walter’s nephew, Robert Ros, who succeeded to the
lordship of Helmsley and took over the patronage of Walter’s
Cistercian foundation, Rievaulx, and his Augustinian priory at
Kirkham.
The Ros family did not support Rievaulx as Walter had done, and
relations between monastery and patron were rather strained. There
was even open conflict in the thirteenth century when the abbot
of Rievaulx challenged William Ros’ right to hunt in his
woods at Helmsley. The Ros family was closer to its Augustinian
foundation at Kirkham, where the family arms were carved above
the gatehouse. A number of the family chose to be buried here rather
than at Rievaulx, although in the fourteenth century several members
chose to be interred at their Cistercian foundation. Robert Ros
II, who died in 1227, was buried in the Templar’s church,
London, where his tombstone can still be seen.