The churchyard is still in use, and some of the headstones predate the present 19th century church. In the church is a folder containing a plan of the churchyard and a list of burials, including those with unmarked graves.

The village of Rosedale Abbey is named after the "abbey" (actually a priory) that existed here before the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century.
Rosedale Priory was probably founded by William of Rosedale in 1154, under the Benedictine Order. It was never a large community, having about nine nuns in the care of a prioress. It's possible that small nunneries like Rosedale were a sort of school for the unmarried daughters of the well-to-do.
The only visible ruin of the Abbey itself is the turret in the garden outside the west door of the present church. This turret probably led from the nave of the chapel up to a dormitory. The present school and its playground occupy part of the space on which the cloister would have been.
The Priory was dissolved in 1536. Much of the buildings remained until the mid-19th century, when the expansion of the mining industry meant that there was a great demand for houses. Unfortunately the stone was taken to build the houses that now make up the village, so Rosedale Abbey is the right name, since most of the abbey now forms the present village. Identifiable fragments can be spotted here and there. You can see some window jambs used as gate posts in the lane by the Milburn Arms, and there is a winding stair tread re-used as a roof-coping ‘kneeler' on a cottage.
The Parish Church of St Mary & St Laurence was built on the foundations of the priory chapel.
When the valley began to expand in the early nineteenth century, there was a need for a new parish church. In 1839 the old Priory chapel was pulled down and a larger church built on much the same site. The whole cost of £665 was met by public subscription. If you look at the panels on the wall beneath the gallery in the church, you will see recorded every subscription down to the last widow's mite.
In 1879 the Parish of Rosedale was created, and a vicar appointed. Up until then the west side of Rosedale belonged to Lastingham Parish and the east side to Middleton.
In 1984 Rosedale was made part of the United Benefice of Lastingham, which now includes the ecclesiastical parishes of Lastingham, Appleton-le-Moors, Rosedale and Cropton.