Long Drax, or Langrick, is a small township in the parish of Drax, 2 ½ miles north from Drax, on the Ouse, and consists of a few scattered farms. Drax Abbey, or more properly speaking Drax Priory, was founded in the 12th century, in the reign of Henry the First, at the instance of the celebrated Thurstan, Archbishop of York, who was also actively concerned in the foundation of the celebrated Cistercian Abbeys of Fountains and Rievaulx. This Priory was dedicated to St. Nicholas, and contained a small community of the Order of the Black Canons of Augustine, about 12 in number; it was liberally endowed with ample lands and revenues by Sir William Paganel, who was at that time lord of the manor of Drax, and was originally built on an island in the Ouse, nearly opposite the mouth of the Derwent; but the whole appearance of the locality has since been changed, by the confinement of the river to its bed by high banks. The Priory continued as a flourishing community, and acquired considerable property and influence up to the Reformation, when it was suppressed: the site, with a good deal of the land belonging to it, was granted to Sir Marmaduke Constable, of Everingham, and his heirs: since then it appears to have passed through several hands, and is now the property of James Tock esq. who has thereby become the lord of the manor of Drax: no part of the Priory buildings now remains. Drax Abbey, the seat of James Tock esq. the principal landowner, is a modern building in the Venetian style.