It is many years since we had last visited, and there have been major changes in that time. There is now a large visitors centre, a restaurant, a shop and a huge car park, obviously reflecting the number of people who come to visit this magnificent ruin.
One question....I wonder why the Monks built the abbey so far from the car park...............
Today the Abbey and the surrounding grounds are a World Heritage site. Besides the Abbey, there is a Georgian water garden and a medieval deer park. I was only interested in spending time in the Abbey area. The site is managed by the National Trust.
Fountains Abbey was yet another Cistercian Abbey. It began with a dispute amongst the monks at St Mary's Abbey in York. A group of monks, including one who would become St Robert of Newminster, were expelled from St. Mary's. After an attempt to follow the rule of St Benedict, they were taken under the protection of the Archbishop of York. He gifted them a piece of land in an enclosed valley of the River Skell.
There these monks began to build a simple abbey. In 1135 they were admitted to the Cistercian Order, and became the second Abbey of that order in England, the first being Rievaulx, which you will find elsewhere in my earlier blogs.
The Abbey and the Monks there had a very complicated existence. There were many happenings, good and bad. If you follow the links below, you will be able to make a wider study of the history of this Abbey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountains_Abbey
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fountains-abbey/
http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk/fountains/
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fountains+abbey&rlz=1T4MXGB_enGB531&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=xhhpU4OQL4fcOv3IgPAI&ved=0CFYQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=699
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