Fountains Abbey

History

Archbishop Thurstan of York directed the abbey's founding, and over the following four centuries Fountains grew into one of the wealthiest Cistercian houses in England through its extensive landholdings. It was dissolved in 1539 during Henry VIII's Reformation, its buildings stripped of valuables and its estates sold off to private owners. The ruins later became the centrepiece of the Studley Royal estate before eventually passing into the care of the National Trust.

Architecture

Most of the surviving structures, including the chapter house, refectory, and lay brothers' dormitory, were built in Romanesque and Early English Gothic style between 1170 and 1247, with further additions made in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

Gardens & grounds

Studley Royal Park, the eighteenth-century landscaped water garden surrounding the ruins, adds ornamental lakes, temples, and a deer park to the visit.