Rievaulx Abbey
Encyclopedia
Rievaulx Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey
headed by the Abbot of Rievaulx
. It is located in Rievaulx
, near Helmsley
in North Yorkshire
, England.
It was one of the wealthiest abbeys in England and was dissolved
by Henry VIII of England
in 1538. Its ruins are a tourist attraction.
s from Clairvaux Abbey
as a mission for the colonisation of the north of England and Scotland. It was the first Cistercian abbey in the north. With time it became one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire
, second only to Fountains 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 little contact with the outside world. The patron, Walter Espec
, settled another Cistercian community, founding Wardon Abbey
in Bedfordshire on unprofitable wasteland on one of his inherited estates.
, sheltered by hills. To have enough flat land to build on, a small part of the river was diverted several metres west of its former channel. (he monks altered the course of the river three times during the 12th century. The old course of the river is 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
and iron
, rearing sheep and selling wool
to buyers from all over Europe. Rievaulx Abbey became one of the greatest and wealthiest in England, with 140 monks and many more lay brother
s, receiving grants of land totalling 6,000 acres (24 km²) and establishing daughter houses in England and Scotland.
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 of sheep scab (psoroptic mange
). 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 14th century made it difficult to recruit new lay brothers for manual labour. As a result the abbey was forced to lease much of its land. By 1381 there were only fourteen choir monk
s, three lay brothers and the abbot
left at Rievaulx, and some buildings were reduced in size.
By the 15th century the original Cistercian practices of strict observance according Saint Benedict
's rule had been abandoned in favour of a more comfortable lifestyle. It was then permitted to eat meat and more private living accommodation was created for the monks, and the abbot now had a substantial private household.
by King Henry VIII
in 1538. At that time there were said to be 72 buildings occupied by 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
, producing cast iron
as efficiently as a modern blast furnace
; according to Gerry McDonnell (archeometallurgist of the University of Bradford
), the closure of Rievaulx delayed the Industrial Revolution
for two and a half centuries.
Henry ordered the buildings to be rendered uninhabitable and stripped of valuables such as lead. The abbey site was granted to the Earl of Rutland
, one of 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 called Rievaulx Terrace & Temples
, are in the care of the National Trust
. The ruins of the abbey are in the care of English Heritage
.
When awarded a life peerage in 1983, former Prime Minister
Harold Wilson
, a Yorkshireman, adopted the title Baron Wilson of Rievaulx.
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
headed by the Abbot of Rievaulx
Abbot of Rievaulx
The Abbot of Rievaulx was the head of the Cistercian monastic community of Rievaulx Abbey, founded in 1131 by Walter l'Espec in North Yorkshire, northern England...
. It is located in Rievaulx
Rievaulx
Rievaulx is a small village and civil parish near Helmsley in North Yorkshire and is located in what was the inner court of Rievaulx Abbey, close to the River Rye. The inner court of the monastery contained buildings such as the brewhouse, bakehouse and guesthouse. Its name originated as Rye +...
, near Helmsley
Helmsley
Helmsley is a market town and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. The town is located at the point where the valleys of Bilsdale and Ryedale leave the higher moorland and join the flat Vale of Pickering. It is situated on the River Rye and lies on the A170 road, east...
in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, England.
It was one of the wealthiest abbeys in England and was dissolved
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
by Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
in 1538. Its ruins are a tourist attraction.
Foundation
Rievaulx Abbey was founded in 1132 by twelve monkMonk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s from Clairvaux Abbey
Clairvaux Abbey
Clairvaux Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in Ville-sous-la-Ferté, 15 km from Bar-sur-Aube, in the Aube département in northeastern France. The original building, founded in 1115 by St. Bernard, is now in ruins; a high-security prison, the Clairvaux Prison, now occupies the grounds...
as a mission for the colonisation of the north of England and Scotland. It was the first Cistercian abbey in the north. With time it became one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, second only to Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey is near to Aldfield, approximately two miles southwest of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. It is a ruined Cistercian monastery, founded in 1132. Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved Cistercian houses in England. It is a Grade I listed building and owned by the...
in fame.
The remote location was ideal for the Cistercians, whose desire was to follow a strict life of prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
and self-sufficiency with little contact with the outside world. The patron, Walter Espec
Walter Espec
Walter Espec was a prominent military and judicial figure of the reign of Henry I of England.His father was probably William Speche, a follower of William I of England In the years up to 1120 he with Eustace Fitz John controlled northern England. He was the builder of Helmsley Castle; he built...
, settled another Cistercian community, founding Wardon Abbey
Wardon Abbey
Wardon or Warden Abbey, Bedfordshire was one of the senior Cistercian houses of England, founded about 1135 from Rievaulx Abbey.It is a Grade I listed building.- History :...
in Bedfordshire on unprofitable wasteland on one of his inherited estates.
Financial prosperity
The abbey lies in a wooded dale by the River RyeRiver Rye, Yorkshire
The River Rye is a river in the English county of North Yorkshire. It rises just south of the Cleveland Hills, east of Osmotherley, and flows through Hawnby, Rievaulx, Helmsley, Nunnington, West and East Ness, Butterwick, Brawby, and Ryton, before joining the River Derwent at near Malton.On some...
, sheltered by hills. To have enough flat land to build on, a small part of the river was diverted several metres west of its former channel. (he monks altered the course of the river three times during the 12th century. The old course of the river is 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
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, rearing sheep and selling wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
to buyers from all over Europe. Rievaulx Abbey became one of the greatest and wealthiest in England, with 140 monks and many more lay brother
Lay brother
In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...
s, receiving grants of land totalling 6,000 acres (24 km²) and establishing daughter houses in England and Scotland.
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 of sheep scab (psoroptic mange
Mange
Mange is the common name for a class of persistent contagious skin diseases caused by parasitic mites. Since mites also infect plants, birds, and reptiles, the term "mange," suggesting poor condition of the hairy coat due to the infection, is sometimes reserved only for pathological...
). 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
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
in the mid 14th century made it difficult to recruit new lay brothers for manual labour. As a result the abbey was forced to lease much of its land. By 1381 there were only fourteen choir monk
Choir monk
In Roman Catholicism the term "Choir Monk" is used to distinguish monks who may become priests from the lay brothers who are occupied mainly with secular affairs....
s, three lay brothers and the abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
left at Rievaulx, and some buildings were reduced in size.
By the 15th century the original Cistercian practices of strict observance according Saint Benedict
Benedict of Nursia
Saint Benedict of Nursia is a Christian saint, honored by the Roman Catholic Church as the patron saint of Europe and students.Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, about to the east of Rome, before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. There is no...
's rule had been abandoned in favour of a more comfortable lifestyle. It was then permitted to eat meat and more private living accommodation was created for the monks, and the abbot now had a substantial private household.
Dissolution
The abbey was dissolvedDissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
by King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
in 1538. At that time there were said to be 72 buildings occupied by 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
Laskill
Laskill is a small hamlet situated 5 miles north-west of Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England, on the road from Helmsley to Stokesley...
, producing cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
as efficiently as a modern blast furnace
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...
; according to Gerry McDonnell (archeometallurgist of the University of Bradford
University of Bradford
The University of Bradford is a British university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The University received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th University to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 1800s...
), the closure of Rievaulx delayed the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
for two and a half centuries.
Henry ordered the buildings to be rendered uninhabitable and stripped of valuables such as lead. The abbey site was granted to the Earl of Rutland
Duke of Rutland
Earl of Rutland and Duke of Rutland are titles in the peerage of England, derived from Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. The Earl of Rutland was elevated to the status of Duke in 1703 and the titles were merged....
, one of 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 called Rievaulx Terrace & Temples
Rievaulx Terrace & Temples
Rievaulx Terrace & Temples is a site located in North Yorkshire, England overlooking Rievaulx Abbey and owned by the National Trust.The site is a grass-covered terrace following a serpentine course across the side of a wooded escarpment overlooking the ruins of the Abbey...
, are in the care of the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
. The ruins of the abbey are in the care of English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
.
When awarded a life peerage in 1983, former Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
, a Yorkshireman, adopted the title Baron Wilson of Rievaulx.