In 657 a.d. Hilda came to Whitby and established a double monastery there. It is often supposed that this was the start of the ‘Abbey’, however Hilda’s monastery was a far cry from the Benedictine Abbey, which was to come later. Hilda's establishment was described by Shaw Jeffrey as “a sort of   University and Royal Palace in one, peopled not by monks and nuns, vowed to celibacy on later monastic lines, but a mixed gathering of Christian families, males and females alike, ruled like a highland clan of the old days, by a scion of the royal house”.

The monastery was attacked and destroyed by the Danes under Hubba and Hinguar in 876a.d. and lay waste for more than two hundred years.

Regenfrith, sometimes called Reinfrid, was a Benedictine soldier monk with William the Conqueror's army. He settled among the ruins of the monastery circa 1078, and began the work of rebuilding them aided by William de Percy, Lord of Whitby. The Abbey went from strength to strength playing an increasingly important part in the affairs of the town, a situation that obtained until the Dissolution of the Monasteries  (December14th.1539), when the Abbey was destroyed and the monks disbanded. (There was a small blip in the running in the year 1211 when King John took control of the Abbey and it’s revenues. It remained in his hands under an Abbey Warden for three years).

The destruction at this time although not complete was sufficient to render the building uninhabitable, the further ruination was brought about by the local people who helped themselves to the stones and building materials which remained at the site. The northeast coastal weather too played it’s part in the continued destruction. The nave fell around 1762 and in 1790 a gentleman named Shelt rebuilt one of the fallen pillars of the nave. A storm on the night of December 2nd 1763 caused the collapse of the west wing of the Abbey. The great central tower of the Abbey fell on 25th. June 1830. It is said it was seen by Andrew Broderick, uncle of the Rev. J.B.Broderick, for 51 years Rector of Sneaton, from his window on Silver St. whilst he sat at breakfast. During a great storm on 7th January 1839 an arch and pillar of the south choir fell down.

Control of the Abbey was transferred to H.M.Office of Works under the Ancient Monuments Act  1919.