Photos of the Beautiful Medieval Gothic Fountains Abbey Ruin

Home  /  Medieval Middle Ages Index / Gothic – Northern Europe

Photos of the Beautiful Medieval Gothic Fountains Abbey Ruins & Studley Royal Park Water Gardens. Photos by photographer Paul E Williams.    (TIP – use the icons below the slideshow for thumbnail photos and info)

How To Download These Photos ?

Photos of the Beautiful Medieval Gothic Fountains Abbey Ruins

---

Photos of the Medieval Gothic Ruins of Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal Park Water Gardens.

Foundation of Fountains Abbey

Founded in 1132, the Fountains Abbey was a Roman Catholic monastery for over 400 years. It was closed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Cistercian Fountains Abbey

The Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It was the second Cistercian monastery to be built in England after Rievaulx Abbey which is 20 miles (32km) away.

The Closure of Fountains Abbey

After its closure like all monasteries in England Fountains Abbey was abandoned and became a ruin. In 1718 John Aislabie the owner of the Studley Estate & Chancellor of the Exchequer decided to build a water Garden in his park. The style of the day was for picturesque landscaping and the ruins of Fountains Abbey were incorporated into the garden design, at the end of a sweeping curved lake that follows a narrow wooded valley.

Studley Royal Park Water Gardens

This vistas of Fountains Abbey have made Studley Royal one of the best surviving examples of a Georgian water garden in England. Studley Royal Park owes its originality and striking beauty to the fact that a humanised landscape was created around the largest medieval ruins in the United Kingdom.

Studley Royal & Fountains Abbey are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.