The impressive remains of Rievaulx Abbey near Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England.
Commentary.
A great Cistercian Abbey founded in 1132.
Ransacked in 1538, during the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, it has been a ruin ever since.
It stands in a remote, wooded, peaceful valley in North Yorkshire,
It suited the Monks’ lives of prayer, service and self-sufficiency.
Rievaulx became the largest and wealthiest monastery in England, expanding to 6,000 acres, with 140 Monks.
Animal diseases in their herds and flocks, raiders stealing livestock, debts and The Plague, in the 14th. Century, meant, by the 15th. Century, fewer Monks, a local population halved and a desire for a less rigid regime.
In the 16th. And 17th. Centuries the Abbey land was still producing iron from nearby deposits.
By the 20th. Century this ruin became a very popular tourist attraction.
It is now regarded as a very special Historic Monument,
managed by English Heritage.
The impressive remains of Rievaulx Abbey near Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England.
Commentary.
A great Cistercian Abbey founded in 1132.
Ransacked in 1538, during the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, it has been a ruin ever since.
It stands in a remote, wooded, peaceful valley in North Yorkshire,
It suited the Monks’ lives of prayer, service and self-sufficiency.
Rievaulx became the largest and wealthiest monastery in England, expanding to 6,000 acres, with 140 Monks.
Animal diseases in their herds and flocks, raiders stealing livestock, debts and The Plague, in the 14th. Century, meant, by the 15th. Century, fewer Monks, a local population halved and a desire for a less rigid regime.
In the 16th. And 17th. Centuries the Abbey land was still producing iron from nearby deposits.
By the 20th. Century this ruin became a very popular tourist attraction.
It is now regarded as a very special Historic Monument,
managed by English Heritage.