- Rievaulx Abbey
Infobox monastery
name= Rievaulx Abbey
order=Cistercian
founder=Walter l'Espec andThurstan ,Archbishop of York
established=1132
mother=Clairvaux Abbey
disestablished=1538
diocese=Diocese of York
churches=
people=Ailred of Rievaulx
location=Rievaulx ,North Yorkshire ,England
coord= coord|54|15|32.57|N|1|6|55.20|W|display=inline,title|type:monument_region:GB
remains= substantial
public_access= yesRievaulx Abbey is a former Cistercian
abbey , headed by theAbbot of Rievaulx , located in the small village ofRievaulx (pronounced 'Ree-voh'), nearHelmsley inNorth Yorkshire ,England .When Rievaulx Abbey was founded in 1132 by twelve
monk s fromClairvaux Abbey as a mission centre for the colonisation of the north ofEngland andScotland , it was the first Cistercian abbey in the north. With time it became one of the greatCistercian abbeys ofYorkshire , second only toFountains Abbey in fame.The remote location was ideal for the Cistercians, whose desire was to follow a strict life of
prayer and self-sufficiency with as little contact as possible with the outside world. The patron, Walter Espec, settled another new Cistercian community, foundingWardon Abbey , Bedfordshire, on one of his inherited estates, again on unprofitable wasteland,The abbey lies in a wooded dale by the River Rye, sheltered by hills. To have enough flat land to build on, a small part of the river had to be diverted to a point several metres west of where it formerly flowed. (The monks altered the course of the river three times during the 12th century.) The trace of the old river is still visible in the abbey's grounds. This is one illustration of the technical ingenuity of the monks, who over time built up a very profitable business mining
lead andiron , rearingsheep and sellingwool to buyers from all overEurope . Rievaulx Abbey eventually became one of the greatest and wealthiest in England, with 140 monks and many morelay brother s, receiving grants of land totalling 6000 acres (24 km²) and establishing daughter houses in England and Scotland.However, towards the end of the
13th century the abbey had incurred a great deal of debt with its building projects and lost revenue due to an epidemic ofsheep scab (psoropticmange ). This ill fortune was compounded by Scottish raids in the early 14th century.To make matters worse the decimation of the population caused by the
Black Death in the mid 1300s made it difficult to recruit new lay brothers for the manual labour. As a result the abbey was forced to lease much of its lands. By 1381 there were only fourteenchoir monk s, three lay brothers and theabbot left at Rievaulx, and therefore some buildings were reduced in size.By the 15th century the original Cistercian practices of strict observance according to the letter of Saint Benedict's rule had been abandoned in favour of a more "comfortable" lifestyle; it was now permitted to eat meat, more private living accommodations were created for the monks, and the abbot now had a substantial private household.
The abbey was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1538. At that time there were said to be 72 buildings occupied by only an abbot and 21 monks, attended by 102 servants, with an income of £351 a year. It also had a prototype blast furnace at
Laskill , producingcast iron as efficiently as a modernblast furnace ; according toGerry McDonnell (archeometallurgist of theUniversity of Bradford ), the closure of Rievaulx delayed theIndustrial Revolution for two and a half centuries.Henry ordered the buildings to be rendered uninhabitable and stripped of any valuables such as lead. The abbey site was granted to the Earl of Rutland, one of the Henry's advisers, until it passed to the Duncombe family.
In the 1750s
Thomas Duncombe III beautified the estate by building the terrace with two Grecian-style temples; these temples, now calledRievaulx Terrace & Temples , are in the care of the National Trust.The ruins of the abbey are still standing and are yet impressive today. They are now in the care of
English Heritage .ee also
*
Abbot of Rievaulx
*List of monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England
*Laskill References
*"How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization",
Thomas Woods , (2005), ISBN 0-89526-038-7
*"Henry "Stamped Out Industrial Revolution", David Derbyshire,The Daily Telegraph (21 June 2002)External links
* [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConProperty.377 Rievaulx Abbey information at English Heritage]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13054b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia article]
* [http://www.northyorkmoors-stay.co.uk/tourist/Rievaulx.html Rievaulx Abbey information and photograph]
* [http://www.hotels-uk-accommodation.co.uk/north-yorkshire/rievaulx-abbey/ Independent study and photos of Rievaulx Abbey]
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