[5] When the monks first arrived in South Yorkshire from Newminster Abbey in Northumberland, they chose the most suitable side of the stream that runs through the valley to build their new Cistercian monastery.

Twenty-five years later, at the end of the century, the Norman Gothic great church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, had been finished, as well as most of the other buildings.

Sherbrook was a child at the time of the suppression and the account, "the most complete from any religious institution in England", was related to Sherbook by his uncle who had been present at the spoliation of the abbey.

Even those who had been content to permit the monks' worship and do great reverence at their matins, masses and services two days previously were no less happy to pilfer, which is strange, that they could one day think it to be the house of God and the next the house of the Devil – or else they would not have been so ready to have spoiled it.Sherbook's account gives the impression of a frenzy with looting by locals, and that the spoliation at Roche Abbey happened in a short space of time.

Reassessment of the source and comparison with the treatment of other religious houses suggests a more organised and structured approach, with lead from the roofs likely removed by Cromwell's men.

A grant of 1546 mentions valuable materials, such as lead and glass, still on the site which the archaeologist Hugh Willmott suggests indicates that the process of spoliation took a longer time than implied by Sherbook.

[20] Left in ruin, the land passed through many private hands until the 4th Earl of Scarbrough decided it needed revitalising to enhance his adjoining family seat at Sandbeck Park.

Many of the buildings are low-standing but the walls of the church still stand to full height and the gothic French idealism thrust into its design and architecture is visible.

[22] The nave was the burial place for the lay brothers but others outside the immediate abbey community buried here include Peryn of Doncaster and his wife, Ysabel.