One of Britain's most complete 12th-century Cistercian abbeys, a great ruin of dark stone in a Leeds park by the River Aire
Open to visitorscheck opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Kirkstall Abbey is one of the best-preserved Cistercian monasteries in the country — the Cistercians being the order of monks who settled out in the countryside to live plainly and farm the land. It was founded in the 1150s and closed at the Reformation in the 1530s, like every English monastery, but enough remains that you can walk through the church, the chapter house and the cloister and still read the plan of the place. It sits in a free public park beside the River Aire a couple of miles northwest of Leeds city centre, with the old gatehouse across the road now housing the Abbey House Museum. The ruins themselves keep set opening hours, and entry is by donation. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal runs close by, so you can walk in along the towpath, and the ruins are floodlit at night.
More at the National Heritage List entry
