RIEVAULX ABBEY

 Hidden in the deep River Rye valley, the beautiful and tranquil abbey ruins reflect nearly one thousand years of spiritual, commercial and Romantic history.

Rievaulx was one of the first Cistercian abbeys to be founded in England in around 1130, and after the dissolution, became the centre of commercial activity for many years. The abbey forge was used to set up an ironworks on the site.
The abbey then entered its Romantic period when its picturesque ruins became a beacon for poets, painters, and scholars. It was one of the first major ruins to be conserved by the Office of Works (ancestor of English Heritage) in 1917.

Once one of the most important Cistercian abbeys in the world, Rievaulx suffered, like many others, at the hands of Henry VIII. It is accessed down a very narrow, very steep road,  (Rievaulx Bank) just outside Helmsley, and is a place of absolute beauty and tranquility.

As well as the obligatory tea-rooms, it has a nice little museum, showing just how the monks of Rievaulx lived.

Pictured below, flanking the refectory entrance, was the laver, where monks washed in pewter basins set in a wall arcade.

The presbytery (below) is one of the finest examples of Early English architecture in Northern England

So, the Cistercians built it (and they really knew how to build incredible edifices), Henry VIII had it torn down, and, in the 1750s, Thomas Duncombe created a high Terrace from which his friends could view those 'romantic ruins'. 

Actually, this probably did the ruins a bit of a favour, as it became much loved by artists and writers. Given the hidden nature of the location, this kept the abbey in the forefront of people's minds, and it became a place worth conserving.

Much of the eastern part of the abbey still stands at almost its full height, and the whole is absolutely stunning