15/09/2025
The tower - Fountains Abbey,
Quite how this tower survived the full wrath of Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries I don’t know but what I know for sure is that the semi ruined monastic abbey at dominates the landscape and Is the most complete abbey ruins in England, probably the most majestic folly in the whole of country too.
The below is a history of fountains abbey from the abbey website to whom I credit the national trust
The abbey was founded in 1132 by 13 Benedictine monks from St Mary’s in York. They’d grown tired of the extravagant and rowdy way that the monks lived in York and so they escaped, seeking to live a devout and simple lifestyle elsewhere. This was how they came to Fountains.
By the time three years had passed the monks had become settled into their new way of life and had been admitted to the austere Cistercian Order. With that came an important development – the introduction of the Cistercian system of lay brothers
The lay brothers (what we would now call labourers) relieved the monks from routine jobs, giving them more time to dedicate to God rather than farming the land to get by. It was because of the help of the lay brothers that Fountains became wealthy through wool production, lead mining, cattle rearing, horse breeding and stone quarrying.
Bad harvests hit the monks hard and combined with raids from the Scots throughout the 14th century, they experienced economic collapse. This was worsened by the Black Death which struck the country in 1348.
Despite its financial problems, the abbey remained important. The abbacy of Marmaduke Huby (1495–1526) marked a period of revival, and the great tower built by Huby symbolised his hope for the abbey’s future.
The abbey was abruptly closed in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries ordered by Henry VIII. The abbot, prior and monks were sent away with pensions.
The estate was sold by the Crown to a merchant, Sir Richard Gresham. It remained in private hands until the 1960s. The National Trust bought the estate from the West Riding County Council in 1983
