I wanted to try creating a 3D model of a monastery using AI. I had no end goal in mind. Where should I base it? I wanted it to feel old, and I wanted it to be English-speaking. That meant setting it before the Dissolution of the Monasteries. But I also wanted to avoid even the faintest hint of the upheaval to come, so I settled on 1495. Henry VII was on the throne, the first of the Tudor kings, with the Wars of the Roses still a recent memory.

So, a few prompts later, I had the basic layout.

English? They were using Latin, of course, for liturgy and formal study, and for everyday speech they were using late Middle English. The monks may have sounded a bit like this…

"Brother Thomas, hast thou seen the priour this morn? He bade me fetch the key to the Kirk, but I ken not where he has put it."

(The prior, or "priour," was the head of the monastery; "ken" means know, and "kirk" means church.)

There would be an unfamiliar rhythm and pronunciation of words, but with enough context clues, I imagine a modern English speaker would cope.

At first, I considered reconstructing a historical monastery, but soon realized this would mean constantly trying to remain faithful to a real place, its architecture, and its history. I wanted the freedom to create something of my own, while still taking historical accuracy seriously. So, I settled on a fictional priory.

I settled on a secluded valley on the edge of the North York Moors, near the village of Fadmoor in North Yorkshire. The priory sits low in the landscape, surrounded by wooded hills, farmland, and a small stream. It's an isolated setting, but still connected to the wider world through the nearby village and the roads beyond.

I kept it small, a monastery for about half a dozen monks, and called it the 'Priory of Saint Cuthbert at Alderbeck'. Cuthbert was a seventh-century Northumbrian saint, whose legacy was closely tied to the monasteries of Lindisfarne and Durham. Alderbeck is an invented place-name, drawing on the Old Norse influence still evident in Yorkshire's geography, particularly the word "beck," meaning stream. Similar names occur throughout the region, so it felt historically and geographically authentic. I settled on the exact coordinates 54.29085 N, 0.97773 W.

Now that I had an actual place, I settled on a more precise date. I thought the Paschal Triduum would be interesting: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. So day one would be April 16, 1495 (Julian calendar).

I was able to download the actual topographic data for the region and model it. And then I went down the astronomical rabbit hole. I modeled the sun, moon, and stars for the time and place.

I haven't quite got the terrain textures right yet, but I have the sun's timings and angles modeled (sunrise 04:40, sunset 19:24). I also downloaded star data from NASA. In 1495, with almost no artificial light pollution and much less atmospheric pollution, the stars would have been remarkably clear on cloudless nights. And in the evening, with the monks having only candlelight, their eyes would have been much better adapted to the darkness.