Fountains Abbey

This is an astonishing and wonderfully preserved example of spectacular 12th Century Gothic church architecture..
It is the Southern half of the vaulted stone cellarium of Fountains Abbey, near Ripon North Yorkshire. This end of the cellarium served as the dining room for the 200 or so Lay Brothers who worked here at Fountains; the other half was used for a granary and storage of other vital supplies.
Most of the Abbey is today in ruins, having been sacked and plundered after Henry VIIIth set out to destroy the Catholic church during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in revenge for his having been frustrated in his wish to divorce Queen Catherine of Aragon.
Fountains and the adjoining Studley Royal Water Garden are managed jointly by the National Trust and English Heritage and make for a really interesting day out. Highly recommended.