Rievaulx Abbey ~ Easy Walk

 

Distance: 2.5 miles   Time to complete walk: 1.5 hours

Safety Tips: Take a walking stick if walking after heavy rain. Be prepared for a steady climb in the middle of the walk. Take money for the car park which is £4.00 however you get half price entry to the Abbey if you keep your parking ticket stub.

A peaceful walk from Rievaulx Abbey, one of Yorkshires finest Abbeys. Throughout the walk you will be able to see the Abbey from different viewpoints. The Abbey is well worth a visit at the end of your walk and there is a coffee shop inside and also a museum. Moderate climbing in the middle of the walk, the walk is classed as easy due to its short length.

 

 

The Rievaulx Abbey walk

 

 

Getting There

 

 

From Middlesbrough, travel up Ormesby Bank and follow the A172 to Stokesley. Take the left turning on the roundabout before Stokesley, which will take you through Great Broughton which is the B125. Follow this scenic route until just before Helmsley. Look for a right turn down to the Abbey ignoring the sign to the terraces. Parking can be busy in peak periods. Parking is £4.00 for all day. Your parking fee will be refunded when you purchase a ticket to the Abbey which is £8.00 for adults. There is a coffee shop and toilets at the Abbey.

 

 

 

Map of the Rievaulx Abbey Walk

 

 

The Walk

 

 

From the car park, turn right and follow the road until you come to a gate to the left with a signpost for Bow Bridge next to it. The gate may be open, if not climb over the gate into a small paddock area with stables.

 

 

 

Gate signposted to Bow Bridge

 

Walk through the paddock ahead and over a waymarked gate into a field. 

 

 

Waymarked gate

   

Continue into another field through another waymarked gate.

 

 

Go through another waymarked gate

 

Soon you will join the River Rye. Go through the gate ahead beside the river a while and through a meadow.

 

 

 

 

Go through gate beside the river

 

Go through the gate and through the meadow

 

 

Bear right to a waymark to leave the meadow through a gate.

  

 

Gate to the right

 

 

Go through the gate and turn left onto a gravel path.

 

 

 

Turn left onto gravel track

 

Follow the track over Bow Bridge

 

 

 

Go over Bow Bridge

 

 

Keep on the gravel track and look for a signpost to Ashberry to the left.

 

 

Signpost to Ashberry to the left

 

 

Follow the direction of the signpost through a meadow over a stile and onto a field until you come to a gate to enter Ashberry Woods. (You are at marker 1 on the map)

 

 

Gate into Ashberry Woods

 

Follow the path, steadily climbing at the edge of the woods. Look for a perfect view of Rievaulx Abbey to your left through the trees.

 

 

 

Rievaulx Abbey through the woods

 

 

As you climb over the crest of the path, take the left fork of the path downwards and look for a seat to the right, handy for a pitstop and to take in the view!

 

 

Take the left fork on the path

 

 

Bench to the right to take in the view!

 

 

Descend the path until you come to Ashberry Farm. Go through the gate turn right and turn left and go over a bridge.

 

 

 

Go over the bridge  





 

Look for another turn off to the left signed to Rievaulx and follow this road back to the Abbey.(You are at marker 2 on the map). Now enjoy a visit to the Abbey. There is a museum in the grounds and brilliant facilities.



 

 

Turn left signed to Rievaulx

 

Follow the road back to the Abbey

 

 

Views of Rievaulx Abbey

 

 

 

Rievaulx Abbey

 

Rievaulx Abbey /riːˈvoʊ/ ree-VOH is a former Cistercian abbey in Rievaulx, near Helmsley in the North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England. Headed by the Abbot of Rievaulx, it was one of the wealthiest abbeys in England until it was dissolved by Henry VIII of England in 1538. Its ruins are a tourist attraction, owned and maintained by English Heritage.

Rievaulx Abbey was founded in 1132 by twelve monks from Clairvaux Abbey as a mission for the colonisation of the north of England and Scotland. It was the first Cistercian abbey in the north. With time it became one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire, second only to Fountains Abbey in fame.
Its remote location was ideal for the Cistercians, whose desire was to follow a strict life of prayer and self-sufficiency with little contact with the outside world. The patron, Walter Espec, settled another Cistercian community, founding Wardon Abbey in Bedfordshire on unprofitable wasteland on one of his inherited estates.
The abbey lies in a wooded dale by the River Rye, sheltered by hills. The monks diverted part of the river several yards to the west in order to have enough flat land to build on. They altered the river's course twice more during the 12th century. The old course is visible in the abbey's grounds. This is an illustration of the technical ingenuity of the monks, who over time built up a profitable business mining lead and iron, rearing sheep and selling wool to buyers from all over Europe. Rievaulx Abbey became one of the greatest and wealthiest in England, with 140 monks and many more lay brothers. It received grants of land totalling 6,000 acres (24 km²) and established daughter houses in England and Scotland.
By the end of the 13th century the abbey had incurred debts on its building projects and lost revenue due to an epidemic of sheep scab (psoroptic mange). The ill fortune was compounded by raiders from Scotland in the early 14th century. The great reduction in population caused by the Black Death in the mid-14th century made it difficult to recruit new lay brothers for manual labour. As a result, the abbey was forced to lease much of its land. By 1381 there were only fourteen choir monks, three lay brothers and the abbot left at Rievaulx, and some buildings were reduced in size.
By the 15th century the Cistercian practices of strict observance according to Saint Benedict's rule had been abandoned in favour of a more comfortable lifestyle. The monks were permitted to eat meat, and more private living accommodation was created for them, and the abbot had a substantial private household.