Fountains Abbey

In a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fountains Abbey is England’s best preserved Cistercian monastery.

The abbey has been a ruin since the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in the 16th century, but 500 years of decay have done nothing to diminish its majesty.

Constructed in 1132, Fountains Abbey grew to become one of the country’s wealthiest monasteries, enriched by lead mining, stone quarrying, animal rearing and wool production.

The abbey precinct covered 70 acres, and you can delve into its history at the Porter’s Lodge exhibition, in a contemporary building within the original gatehouse.

Among the ruins you can investigate big pieces of the abbey church and cloisters, as well as the vestiges of what used to be one of the largest abbot’s houses in England.

The great hall alone was more than 50 metres long.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Best Things to Do in Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire, England)

Image
The county town of Buckinghamshire is on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in the Aylesbury Vale’s verdant farmland. Aylesbury has some strong regional attractions like the County Museum, along with a state-of-the-art theatre that opened in 2010. The children’s author Roald Dahl was a Buckinghamshire resident and is remembered with a wonderful hands-on children’s gallery, attached to the County Museum. Aylesbury has a place in pop history, as the Friars Club here welcomed some of the biggest music acts of the 70s, and was where David Bowie performed as Ziggy Stardust for the first time. There’s a lovingly rendered statue for Bowie under the Corn Exchange on the Market Square. Let’s explore the best things to do in Aylesbury:
Read more

Wakefield Trinity

Image
Rugby League, as opposed to Rugby Union, is the second most popular sport in the North of England. Nearly all the teams playing in the Super League, Rugby League’s top competition, are based in this part of the country. In terms of style, Rugby League has a couple of things in common with American Football, one being that after a certain amount of tackles without scoring (six in Rugby League), the ball has to be handed over to the opposition. The local team, Wakefield Trinity are nicknamed the Dreadnoughts and play at the 9,333-capacity Belle Vue stadium. Trinity were big in Don Fox’s day in the 60s when they won most their league and Challenge Cup titles. But without spending big money, they have a reputation for over-achievement and finished 5th in the Super League in 2017.
Read more

Market Square

Image
This long, rectangular square in the heart of Aylesbury has fine buildings and interesting pockets of history all around. On the southeast end, beside the striking Corn Exchange is the Aylesbury Crown Court, which shut its doors for the last time in 2018. This Palladian building was completed in 1740, and in 1963 was where the culprits of the Great Train Robbery were sentenced. In front of the court is a statue for the soldier and politician Charles Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham, who served in the Second Boer War. The bronze lions beside his statue come from the Rothschild estate at Waddesdon Manor and have been here since 1888. At the opposite end of the square there’s a narrow passageway through to the King’s Head Inn, one of the oldest pubs in the South of England. Aylesbury’s market trades on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and there’s a Vintage & Craft Bazaar on Tuesdays.
Read more