This gives some idea of the length of the church - although the remaining tall section of wall on the right of the photo is not
in fact the east front of the church but is only about three-quarters of the way along it.
No doubt the grandeur of the church and richness of the abbey lands contributed to the power held by the abbots of Byland, who were often called upon as arbiters
of judicial, ecclesiastical and occasionally also political disputes locally and nationally.