BOLTON ABBEY, village West Riding of Yorkshire, Eng land, 2 2M. N.W. of Leeds and 51m. from Ilkley by the L.M.S. railway. Pop. of parish (1931) 193. It takes its name, inac curately, from the great foundation of Bolton Priory, the ruins of which stand near the right bank of the upper Wharfe in a valley beautifully wooded and closely enclosed by hills. Part is transi tional Norman; the nave, which is perfect, is Early English and Decorated. Transepts and choir are ruined, and remains of do mestic buildings are slight. The manor of Bolton Abbey with the rest of the district of Craven was granted by William the Con queror to Robert de Romili, who evidently held it in 1086, although no mention is made in the Domesday survey. William de Mes chines and Cicely de Romili, his wife, heiress of Robert, founded and endowed a priory at Embsay or Emmesay, near Skipton, in '120, but it was moved here in 1151 by their daughter Alice de Romili, wife of William FitzDuncan. The manor was sold in 1542 to Henry Clifford, 2nd earl of Cumberland, whose descendants, the dukes of Devonshire, now hold it.