Location: Studley Royal Estate, 3 km (2 mi) Southwest of Ripon, North Yorkshire Map
Tel. 01756 608888
Open:
Mar- Oct 10am- 5pm daily
Nov- Jan 10am- 4pm Sat- Thu
Feb 10am- 4pm daily
Official site
Fountains Abbey is a former Roman Catholic Benedictine Monastery situated in Studley Royal Estate, 3 km (2 mi) Southwest of Ripon, North Yorkshire in United Kingdom. Fountains Abbey was found in 1132. The abbey was closed in 1539 by the orders of Henry VIII during Dissolution of the Monasteries. After taking a side of Reformation English king proclaimed himself as a head of the Church. Subsequently Henry took over church's possessions and riches.
The Abbey of Fountains was founded in 1132 after a
dispute at the Abbey of Santa Maria in York. After these
disturbances, thirteen monks were exiled and after an unsuccessful
attempt to return to the Rule of St. Benedict of the early sixth
century, they fell under the protection of Thurstan, archbishop of
York. This gave him a place in the valley of the Skell River. This
closed valley provided the monks with everything they needed for the
creation of the monastery, protecting them from the inclemency of
the weather, wood and stone for the building, a source of water. The
monks requested adhesion to the Cistercian Order in 1132.
The abbey functioned until 1539, when Henry VIII ordered the
dissolution of the monasteries. The buildings of the abbey and about
2 km² of land were sold by the Crown, on October 1, 1540, to Sir
Richard Gresham, a merchant from London, father of the founder of
the London Stock Exchange, Sir Thomas Gresham.
