Abbey of St. Oswald

The Abbey of St. Oswald was a medieval church in York. It was named after the 7th century King Oswald of Northumbria. In the 16th century, when King Henry VIII enforced the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and churches were plundered of their treasure throughout England. The monks anticipated the arrival of Henry's enforcers, and secreted away their most precious relics in hidden niches carved into the abbey walls.

Four centuries later, in 1991, the niches of St. Oswald's were discovered by archaeologists.