This is a busy little village with a number of shops and tea rooms, and of course, Helmsley Castle.
The castle has a history going back to 1120, and has a succession of owners, including Richard, Duke of Gloucester who later became King Richard III.
During the Civil War the castle was besieged and eventually captured by Sir Thomas Fairfax. The castle was ordered to be slighted so it could not be used again.
Eventually Charles Duncombe bought the castle in 1687. His sister's husband inherited it when Charles died. He left it to fall into ruin while he had Duncombe Park, a large counrty house built for him.
Nearby are the substantial ruins of Rievaulx Abbey, a Cistercian Monastery founded in 1132 by 12 monks from Clairvaux, as a mission for work in England and Scotland.
It became one of the great abbeys of Yorkshire,second only to Fountains Abbey.
The abbey became wealthy through the hard work of the monks in water engineering, lead and iron mining, and sheep, selling wool all over Europe.
Daughter houses were established elsewhere in England and Scotland. But this expansion meant that debts built up. Sheep scab affected the flocks of sheep, and raiding parties from Scotland further damaged the monastery. At its height, there were about 140 monks, but after the Black Death, and the other misfortunes, the number of monks fell to 14.
Eventually King Henry VIII seized the abbey, took its valuables, ordered the building to be made uninhabitable. It was then bought by the Duncombe family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmsley_Castle
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/helmsley-castle/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rievaulx_Abbey
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/rievaulx-abbey/
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