ABSTRACT
The tradition, on which the poem is founded, has been mentioned by Dr. Whitaker, in his History of the Deanery of Craven. ‘About this time,’ not long after the dissolution, ‘a white doe, say the aged people in the neighbourhood, long continued to make a weekly pilgrimage from Rylstone, over the fells of Bolton, and was constantly found in the Abbey Church-yard during divine service; after which she returned home as regularly as the rest of the congregation.’ – Notes on the Poem.
