Abbey

While watching TV last night, we were pleased to see a short piece about Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire.
It is more than two years since Malcolm and I went to Fountains on our way to a few days in Scotland. A riot at St Mary's Abbey in York led to the founding of Fountains Abbey in 1132 which, over the years became one of the richest religious organisations in the country through. It's wealth was due mostly to farming, mining, lead and iron-working, quarrying and horse-breeding. Financial mismanagement led to a severe downturn in Fountains' fortunes (some things never change).
The whole thing came to an abrupt end in 1539 with Henry VIII's dissolution and a year later, the lead and glass from the Abbey, was being used in Ripon and York.
In 1767, the site was sold for £18,000 to William Aislabie, who landscaped the ruins as a folly to be viewed from Water Gardens.
I took plenty of photos, as you can imagine and later, set some of them into a slide-show with some (appropriate?) music. Here it is....