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Dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin and St. Germain, Selby Abbey is one of a few surviving medieval abbey churches, one of the largest parish churches in Britain and a determined survivor though 900 years of adversity. The Abbey was founded by Benedict (or Benoit) of Auxerre in 1069 following a vision where St. Germain instructed him to build an Abbey at Selby with a dried finger of the Saint for a shrine. Much of the Norman church we see today was the work of his successor, Abbot Hugh, who reputedly did manual labour himself for wages he gave to the poor. Work continued in the 13th century in an Early English style and in the early 14th century with a Decorated chancel. In 1340 a disastrous fire destroyed the Chapter House, Treasury, Dormitory and other buildings and the church became partly in ruins.
The Abbey was dissolved in 1539 and many of the buildings were pulled down in the following years, though a gatehouse survived until 1806 and the abbey church continued in use as a parish church. The Battle of Selby in 1644 and the iconoclasm of the Commonwealth saw further damage to the Abbey, then, at around 6.00am on March 30th 1690, the upper part of the tower collapsed destroying the south transept and part of the choir as it fell. A bell tower replaced the upper part of the tower in 1702, though repairs to the rest of the damaged building were slow. In 1871 Sir George Gilbert Scott was appointed to restore the nave and in 1890 John Oldrid Scott restored the choir.
On the night of October 19th/20th 1906 another disastrous fire gutted the abbey and almost destroyed the building, but once again John Oldrid Scott restored the damage, including the south transept damaged in 1690. Further work in 1935 completed the restoration to the church we see today Link