The roofless ruins of one of England's greatest Cistercian abbeys, set deep in a wooded North Yorkshire valley near Helmsley
Open to visitorsan English Heritage site — check opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
You come down into the Rye valley and there they are: the tall, roofless walls of Rievaulx Abbey, one of the grandest monastic ruins in England. Cistercian monks — a reformed order who chose out-of-the-way spots and a plain, hard-working life — founded Rievaulx in 1132, the first house of their order in the north of England. They came from Clairvaux in France, and within a century the community had grown to hundreds of monks and lay brothers, with a huge church, cloisters and farms spread along the valley floor.
Its most famous leader was Aelred, abbot from 1147, whose books were read by monks across medieval Europe. Henry VIII’s officials closed Rievaulx in 1538 during the dissolution of the monasteries, stripped the lead from the roofs and left the buildings to fall. What is left is still striking: the tall east end of the church, arch above pointed arch, open to the sky.
English Heritage looks after the site now, with a museum and café, and you can wander the whole precinct; give yourself a couple of hours. For a view of the ruins from above, the Rievaulx Terrace is a grassy 18th-century walk on the hillside, run separately by the National Trust. The village of Rievaulx is tiny, so most people base themselves in Helmsley a few miles east, where you’ll find Helmsley Castle and the start of the Cleveland Way long-distance path.
More at the National Heritage List entry
