One of the alchemists who were reputed to have succeeded in transmuting base metal to gold was the Canon of Bridlington Priory. I never met anyone in Bridlington who had ever heard of him.

"George Ripley [1415?-1490] was one of the most important of English alchemists. Little is known about him, but it is supposed that he was a Canon at the Priory of St Augustine at Bridlington in Yorkshire during the latter part of the 15th century, where he devoted himself to the study of the physical sciences and especially alchemy. To acquire fuller knowledge he travelled in France, Germany and Italy, and lived for some time in Rome, and there in 1477 was made a chamberlain by Pope Innocent VIII. In 1478 he returned to England in possession of the secret of transmutation. He pursued his alchemical work, and is reputed to have given vast sums to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Rhodes to defend them from the Turks. But his labours becoming irksome to the abbot and other canons, he was released from the order, and joined the Carmelites at Boston, where he died in 1490."

The people who run Brid are still easy to irk, and the old gatehouse of the Priory is still home to them! They go by the name of "The Lords Feoffees" (pronounced Fifis)
Cheers
Dave