Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire had been on my ‘to do’ list for many years but time, distance and the affects of disability had conspired to prevent me from getting there until earlier this year. I was not disappointed as I found myself wandering around the ruins like a slack-jawed yokel, just marvelling at the sheer size of the place. More than once I was heard to say f*** me! But at least I had the good taste to spell the rude word with a letter ‘q’.
To understand my awe you have to remember that I live in Norfolk and I am well familiar with the remains of Castle Acre Priory, Binham Priory and the single huge arch which is all that is left of Walsingham Abbey. Fountains Abbey was built on a wholly different scale to these religious buildings, both vertically and horizontally. In its prime it was a site of vast and serene grandeur. Even now it retains the ability to affect a visitor. It certainly affected me.
For perhaps the first time I was confronted with overwhelming evidence (and a better understanding of the claims made by historians) that King Henry VIII was the greatest vandal in English history. His agents took a wrecking ball to dozens of magnificent buildings and strip-mined them for materials and money. Many, like Fountains, ended up just being used as stone quarries.
Fountains was one of the many religious houses suppressed by Thomas Cromwell on behalf of his master, the King. King Henry had broken with the Church of Rome in the 1530s over the matter of his divorce and remarriage to Anne Boleyn. Henry also needed to improve his cashflow. The church owned vast tracts of the richest land in Britain and wielded great influence over the hearts and minds of the King’s people. If Henry wanted to make himself head of the new Church of England he would need to line his pockets, build defences against a possible Papal invasion and destroy the ability of the great religious houses to put up a theological - or martial - defence against him.
It is no coincidence that the start of the Dissolution of the Monasteries was met almost immediately by a popular rebellion in 1536 which then led to the Pilgrimage of Grace:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrimage_of_Grace
It is also no coincidence that among the 216 known executions following the uprisings of 1536/37 were many monks and churchmen - including the former Abbot of Fountains, William Thirsk.
Henry VIII’s right-hand man Thomas Cromwell had started small by closing or amalgamating just the humbler or allegedly corrupt religious houses with the money going into the King’s coffers. Following Catholic rebellions the King and Cromwell appear to have regarded the untouched larger abbeys in much the same way as Adolph Hitler regarded Communism in WW2. Idealogical resistance from the heart of the church led to Henry VIII issuing the equivalent of Hitler’s ‘shoot the commissars’ order. Close the abbeys, turf out the abbots and execute any who opposed Henry’s supremacy. The Abbot of Glastonbury paid just such a price by being hung, drawn and quartered.
Thus it was that Fountains was closed and pillaged in 1539. Portable valuables such as gold or silver plate and vestments were taken away and sold off while the buildings and 500 acres (200 hectares) of land were sold to MP Sir Thomas Gresham, a former Lord Mayor of London. This was an epic shift in policy for Gresham as he had previously gifted tapestries to Cardinal Wolsey at Hampton Court and even paid for the poor Cardinal’s funeral when King Henry turned against Wolsey. Gresham was a man who could see which way the new wind was blowing. He went with it.
A full history of Fountains Abbey, once the richest Cistercian abbey in England, can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountains_Abbey
It is well worth a read.
Today Fountains is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Although owned by the National Trust, English Heritage membership cards are accepted in full as EH also looks after the Studley Royal church on the same site.
Disability footnote: despite the well laid paths, etc, Fountains is not an easy site for the disabled. The main ruins are some distance from the entrance while the rest of the Studley Royal park is vast and was not visited by me. Pace yourself as I found getting out up the paths at the end while very tired rather difficult.
Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire had been on my ‘to do’ list for many years but time, distance and the affects of disability had conspired to prevent me from getting there until earlier this year. I was not disappointed as I found myself wandering around the ruins like a slack-jawed yokel, just marvelling at the sheer size of the place. More than once I was heard to say f*** me! But at least I had the good taste to spell the rude word with a letter ‘q’.
To understand my awe you have to remember that I live in Norfolk and I am well familiar with the remains of Castle Acre Priory, Binham Priory and the single huge arch which is all that is left of Walsingham Abbey. Fountains Abbey was built on a wholly different scale to these religious buildings, both vertically and horizontally. In its prime it was a site of vast and serene grandeur. Even now it retains the ability to affect a visitor. It certainly affected me.
For perhaps the first time I was confronted with overwhelming evidence (and a better understanding of the claims made by historians) that King Henry VIII was the greatest vandal in English history. His agents took a wrecking ball to dozens of magnificent buildings and strip-mined them for materials and money. Many, like Fountains, ended up just being used as stone quarries.
Fountains was one of the many religious houses suppressed by Thomas Cromwell on behalf of his master, the King. King Henry had broken with the Church of Rome in the 1530s over the matter of his divorce and remarriage to Anne Boleyn. Henry also needed to improve his cashflow. The church owned vast tracts of the richest land in Britain and wielded great influence over the hearts and minds of the King’s people. If Henry wanted to make himself head of the new Church of England he would need to line his pockets, build defences against a possible Papal invasion and destroy the ability of the great religious houses to put up a theological - or martial - defence against him.
It is no coincidence that the start of the Dissolution of the Monasteries was met almost immediately by a popular rebellion in 1536 which then led to the Pilgrimage of Grace:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrimage_of_Grace
It is also no coincidence that among the 216 known executions following the uprisings of 1536/37 were many monks and churchmen - including the former Abbot of Fountains, William Thirsk.
Henry VIII’s right-hand man Thomas Cromwell had started small by closing or amalgamating just the humbler or allegedly corrupt religious houses with the money going into the King’s coffers. Following Catholic rebellions the King and Cromwell appear to have regarded the untouched larger abbeys in much the same way as Adolph Hitler regarded Communism in WW2. Idealogical resistance from the heart of the church led to Henry VIII issuing the equivalent of Hitler’s ‘shoot the commissars’ order. Close the abbeys, turf out the abbots and execute any who opposed Henry’s supremacy. The Abbot of Glastonbury paid just such a price by being hung, drawn and quartered.
Thus it was that Fountains was closed and pillaged in 1539. Portable valuables such as gold or silver plate and vestments were taken away and sold off while the buildings and 500 acres (200 hectares) of land were sold to MP Sir Thomas Gresham, a former Lord Mayor of London. This was an epic shift in policy for Gresham as he had previously gifted tapestries to Cardinal Wolsey at Hampton Court and even paid for the poor Cardinal’s funeral when King Henry turned against Wolsey. Gresham was a man who could see which way the new wind was blowing. He went with it.
A full history of Fountains Abbey, once the richest Cistercian abbey in England, can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountains_Abbey
It is well worth a read.
Today Fountains is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Although owned by the National Trust, English Heritage membership cards are accepted in full as EH also looks after the Studley Royal church on the same site.
Disability footnote: despite the well laid paths, etc, Fountains is not an easy site for the disabled. The main ruins are some distance from the entrance while the rest of the Studley Royal park is vast and was not visited by me. Pace yourself as I found getting out up the paths at the end while very tired rather difficult.