Fountains Abbey

Yesterday we spent the whole day at Fountains Abbey, just south of here and west of Ripon.

Please 'Google' Cistercians Fountain Abbey to learn about this history.

It was an awesome experience visiting Fountains Abbey and one that left our heads spinning with questions. 

Monastic life was at the centre of Medieval England. In the early 1100's, several monks who sought a simpler life from the one of the Benedictine order, joined the Cistercian brotherhood and travelled into the Yorkshire hills and settled in a location with a constant water supply. The River Snell proved to be an ideal location and Fountains Abbey prospered over time and grew into a large abbey which survived for several hundred years until Henry Vlll's actions turned a corner in the direction of life in Britain. (Isn't this an understatement?)

At any rate... a terribly complex society lasted here for several hundred years. 

Fountains Abbey gave us a lot to ponder yesterday...