Rievaulx is not one monastery but four. Each rebuilding of the abbey was designed to reflect the ideas then current about the Cistercian monastic life, and each was related to a stage in the monastery’s economic and spiritual development. The abbey's post-suppression history is equally complex, reflecting changing views of the medieval past.
The first abbey
The earliest buildings consisted of temporary timber structures, provided by the founder, Walter Espec, lord of Helmsley, in 1131–2, to the instructions of a senior monk from the mother abbey at Clairvaux, in northeastern France. These provide basic accommodation and a place of worship until enough resources had been assembled to start building in stone. These early temporary buildings have not been excavated, but one, believed to be the church, has been traced by geophysical survey on the northern side of the surviving cloister.
The first abbey in stone
Building in stone began under William, the first abbot (1132–1145) probably after 1135/6, the year that work began on rebuilding the mother abbey at Clairvaux, on a claustral plan – that is, with a central church and a great cloister to the south, a plan that was intended to set the pattern for all other Cistercian monasteries. The west range of Abbot William’s cloister and parts of his east and south ranges still survive.
Expansion
The appointment of Aelred as the third abbot in 1147 marks the beginning of a rebuilding and expansion of Abbot William’s monastery as the monastic community grew. Aelred built a monumental new church, east range and infirmary before his death in 1167, and his successor, Silvanus (1167–88), rebuilt the south range of the cloister and remodelled Abbot William’s west range before 1188.
The eastern parts of the church, the short presbytery and eastern transept chapels, were then taken down and replaced with a spectacular aisled and vaulted presbytery under Abbot Roger II (1223/4–39).
This work is contemporary with a similar rebuilding of the presbytery at Fountains Abbey and marks a major liturgical change, here prompted by the translation of St Aelred to a new shrine above the high altar and the need for additional chapels.
Although almost all of Rievaulx’s buildings date to the 12th and early 13th centuries, they were remodelled again from the later 14th century to suit changing patterns of religious life.
The Dissolution and after
Rievaulx Abbey was suppressed in January 1538, and sold to the earl of Rutland in December of that year. His steward has left remarkably detailed accounts of the stripping and demolition of the abbey throughout 1538–9.
Rutland kept the abbey’s mills functioning, first under their monastic tenant, and then under his own, developing a substantial iron industry that continued into the mid 17th century.
Rievaulx’s more recent history concerns its development as a monument in the landscape that appealed to changing artistic and cultural tastes from the mid 18th century to the First World War, after which it began to be conserved for the first time for public display.
Phased plan of Rievaulx Abbey
A phased plan of Rievaulx Abbey can be downloaded from the right-hand side of this page
