Pilgrim Ways

In 867, Hilda‟s monastery was destroyed by Viking invaders and it was not rebuilt until the eleventh century when Reinfrid, a monk from Evesham, refounded it as a Benedictine monastery.

Inland, in the Rye Valley, there are more monastic ruins. These are what remain of the magnificent Rievaulx Abbey, a Cistercian community which came here in 1132. It became one of their most important monasteries and a mission centre. One of its great abbots was Aelred, theologian and administrator. He carefully set out his vision of how the monastic life should be lived. The substantial ruins allow the modern pilgrim to grasp the scale and nature of monastic life, and to grasp the enormity of what was done.

In total contrast, the ruins of Mount Grace Priory, to the north west of Rievaulx, reveal an entirely different form of monastic life. Here, in this Carthusian house, monks lived as hermits, gathering together for some community worship. The priory was founded in 1398, when the first aisleless church was constructed. The tower, built as part of an expansion programme in the fifteenth century, still stands. It is also possible to see the clear outline of the buildings and the reconstruction of a monastic cell. These were placed around a great cloister.

Most famously of all, in 1132, in the valley of the Skell, Abbot Richard founded Fountains Abbey the greatest of England‟s Cistercian houses. The ruined remains speak eloquently of the scale of the religious community, and the commitment of those who were a part of it.

The Cistercian rule was created by St.Stephen Harding at Citeaux and developed by St.Bernard of Clairvaux. It took the Benedictine community life and built onto it selfsufficiency, asceticism, poverty, simplicity and isolation. At Fountains, alongside 120 monks, about 600 lay brothers helped to run the farms and ensured the monastery‟s survival.

Fountains was so successful that it became the mother house for eight new abbeys.

Designated now as a World Heritage Site Fountains Abbey is in the ownership of the National Trust. During a visit in May 2000 my children were enthralled by Super Sleuth hunt for brother Ambrose and his fellow monks, enlightened by the excellent video presentation available at the Visitor Centre, and entertained by the games at the educational centre. For at least two weeks after our visit my just turned three-year-old son repeatedly asked the perceptive question “why?” did the king kill the monks and break the house? Regular tours, recitals, and children‟s trails are organised at the abbey (see appendix for details).

Bolton Abbey Priory To the west of Fountains and York , en route for Skipton, is Bolton Abbey Priory. As a pilgrimage in its own right, a day long walk across the hills from Fountains to Bolton would temper most troubles of the spirit. Set close to the River Wharfe Bolton was an Augustinian Priory created in 1155 by Alicia de Romilly of Skipton Castle. Three hundred years after the priory‟s dissolution in 1539, the great Victorian Catholic architect, Augustus W.N.Pugin, created the glass in the six windows on the south side of the priory. Of all the sites which I visited in connection with this book, the stunning location of Bolton Abbey affected me the most. The Anglican community who, since the destruction of the monasteries, have continued to use the nave of the priory as their parish church, deserve to be congratulated on the way in which the priory church of St.Mary and St.Cuthbert has been maintained and preserved. A sanctuary lamp burns above a stone altar which local people saved and cherished from destruction as altars were smashed and stripped all over Britain. Five consecration crosses are