Rieveaux Abbey

Yorkshire, England 2015- Rievaulx Terrance & Abbey

morning drive to the Abbey

Rievaulx Terrace, as well as the land the old Abbey sits on, are National Trust-managed properties, once owned by the Duncombe family.

In the mid-1700s Charles Duncombe was a clever stock market investor who became 'the wealthiest commoner in England'. He apparently understood economics and became a financial advisor to two successive English Kings, keeping the Exchequer solvent & earning himself a royal title & property.

The large Duncombe property extends from the village of Helmsley to Rievaulx, with a scenic 5.5 mile walk along River Rye between them, but we drove instead.

The Docent at Reivaulx Terrace said that the Duncombes family currently living on the property continue to use this small Palladian style building on (1st photo below) as a special-occasion dining room. She said that last winter, a helicopter flew in cooks, plus food & wine and then 25 guests, for a feast on a snowy day.

The Docent also said that in the mid 1700s, ruins like Rievaulx Abbey (similar to Fountains Abbey) were often incorporated into larger private gardens because they introduced a romantic aspect - admiration for architectural works from the past.

When the sons of wealthy Brits began to go on 'The Grand Tour', or "studied abroad", in France or Italy, starting in the 1740s, they found a tradition of venerating Roman ruins, which created an off-shoot gardening trend back home. It became so popular a look, she said, that wealthy land owners in England and on the Continent sometimes constructed fake Abbey ruins on their property.

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again.

Palladian style		dining room upstairs & kitchen below		we enjoyed talking with the Docent
			Boar pattern, a reference to King Richard III
period furniture		The Duncombes
	painted by an Italian artist
first look at Rievaulx Abbey				looking into River Rye watershed
			mint & woodruff
Rievaulx Terrace

Rievaulx Abbey - In the 1200s there was a community of about 600 here, consisting of lay monks & choir monks. Similar to other monasteries, choir monks were engaged in study & devotion, while lay monks, often illiterate, performed the necessary day-to-day work that insured survival, including a lot of engagement with the local farm & craft-based community.

Choir Monks had to get up year round at 2 am for Matins, typically going to bed around 6 pm, a self-denial routine, while Lay monks were on day-shift. Let's hope they had different housing.

At Services, choir monks sat up front while lay monks at the back.

The audio-tour said there was a substantial community of craftsmen & suppliers, as well as mine workers, living in a village that stretched out along the River Rye for a half-mile upstream & downstream of the Abbey. There were a few thousand persons here, and when times were good, like in the 1200s, all levels of the economy flourished.

view from the Nave		the Presbytery, constructed in the 1140s
	like Roman arches		Cloister
tiny restored section of the Cloister		cascading cotoneaster
	early founder of the Abbey, who died in 1145		South transept
floor tiles & my shoe		Refectory & Undercroft

We walked through a nearby woods and crossed twice over the River Rye on old stone bridges. (Rievaulx is French for River Rye.

'this green and pleasant land'		walking past the visitor center		nasturtium on old rock wall
	walking easement		looking back from the foot path
		where the Rievaulx craft people lived & worked		seemed like an old (narrow gauge) railroad grade
	a side creek joins the Rye near the bridge		old bridge
old house next to Abbey		there's a very thin net covering the thatch		probably for wind protection
	the net, barely visible

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