Abbeys & priories · Yorkshire & the Humber
Yorkshire's ruined abbeys
Six Cistercian monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII, kept beautiful by the National Trust and English Heritage.
Yorkshire was the heartland of medieval English monasticism — at the Dissolution in 1538 it lost more abbeys than any other county. Six survive in spectacular ruin: Fountains, Rievaulx, Bolton, Whitby, Jervaulx, Byland. Each is a different mood — Fountains is the grandest, Whitby the most haunting, Bolton the most photogenic.
Places in this guide
The places referenced in this guide aren't in our database yet — they'll appear here as the guide grows.
8 additional places are mentioned in this guide but not yet in our main database.