'Adam Sedbar or Sedburgh (c1502-1537) was the 23rd and last Abbot of Jervaulx Abbey in Wensleydale, Yorkshire

Adam Sedbar was abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Jervaulx when Henry VIII introduced his plans for the Dissolution of the Monasteries

He was persuaded in 1536, somewhat reluctantly, to join in a Pilgrimage of Grace, together with other local abbots from Fountains, Bridlington and Guisborough Abbeys, in order to protest about the king's policies. The cause attracted a large number of followers, and urged on by a few fanatics, became increasingly militant. After a number of Yorkshire towns were attacked by the insurgents the King eventually decided, after some negotiation with their spokesman, to round up the ringleaders and charge them with treason. Sedbar sought sanctuary with John Scrope, 8th Baron Scrope of Bolton at his stronghold in Bolton Castle. When the King's Commissioners followed him there, Lord Scrope fled for his own safety and Sedbar hid on Witton Fell but was captured on May 12,1537 and taken with others to be tried in London.

He was imprisoned in the Beauchamp tower in the Tower of London, where his inscribed name on the wall "ADAM SEDBAR. ABBAS JOREVALL 1537" can still be clearly seen. He was charged that "he did conspire to deprive the King of his title of Supreme Head of the English Church, and to compel him to hold a certain Parliament and convocation of the clergy of the realm, and did commit divers insurrections..." and "tried" or examined on both April 25 and 24 May. Found guilty, as were the other abbots, several monks and various lay ringleaders he was taken on June 2, 1537 to Tyburn where he hung, drawn and quartered. The Prior of Bridlington suffered the same fate on the same day and the Abbots of Fountains and Guisborough a few days previously. Their heads were displayed on London Bridge.