Summary

A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the largest ruined monasteries in England, founded by Cistercian monks in 1132 in the valley of the River Skell near Ripon in North Yorkshire; managed by the National Trust within the Studley Royal Water Garden estate; notable for its church nave, Chapel of Nine Altars, and intact cellar vaulting; used as a filming location for Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981), The Secret Garden (1993 and 2020), The History Boys (2006), The Witcher (Netflix, 2020), and Gunpowder (BBC, 2017).

About this location

Fountains Abbey stands in the valley of the River Skell approximately three miles south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire. The abbey was founded in 1132 when a group of thirteen Benedictine monks, in dispute with the Archbishop of York, left St Mary’s Abbey in York to pursue a stricter monastic rule and were received by Archbishop Thurstan, who granted them land in the Skell valley. They affiliated themselves to the Cistercian order in 1135, giving the house the plain architecture and remote rural location characteristic of Cistercian foundations. The abbey grew rapidly to become one of the wealthiest monasteries in England, with income derived from wool production across extensive sheep granges across the north of England.

The church, begun in the mid-12th century and extended over subsequent centuries, survives as a standing ruin to full wall height across much of its length. The nave is eleven bays long and retains its clerestory walls. The Chapel of Nine Altars at the east end, added between 1203 and 1247, is a distinctive feature unique among English Cistercian houses, built to accommodate the increasing number of pilgrims visiting the shrine. The tower, erected by Abbot Huby between 1494 and 1526, stands to its full height of approximately 168 feet and is the most prominent vertical element of the complex. The cellarium, the undercroft of the west range used for lay brothers’ storage, is 300 feet long with intact 12th-century vaulting and is the longest surviving vaulted space in any English monastic complex. The infirmary hall was described as one of the largest aisled halls built in medieval England.

The abbey was dissolved in 1539 during the suppression of the monasteries under Henry VIII. The site passed through several ownerships before being acquired by John Aislabie of Studley Royal, who incorporated the ruins into his formal water garden from 1720 onwards. The Studley Royal Water Garden, designed by Aislabie and his son William, is an 18th-century formal garden in the valley below the abbey, with geometric canals, moon ponds, and classical temples. The whole estate was acquired by the National Trust in 1983 and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

Film and television productions at Fountains Abbey include: Omen III: The Final Conflict (Twentieth Century Fox, 1981, directed by Graham Baker, starring Sam Neill as Damien Thorn) filmed the final scenes at the abbey; The Secret Garden (Warner Bros., 1993, directed by Agnieszka Holland, starring Kate Maberly and Maggie Smith) used the abbey and ; The History Boys (BBC Films/DNA Films, 2006, directed by Nicholas Hytner, starring Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour, adapted from Alan Bennett’s stage play) filmed at Fountains; The Secret Garden (StudioCanal, 2020, directed by Marc Munden, starring Dixie Egerickx and Colin Firth) returned to the abbey; The Witcher (Netflix, 2020, Season 2, produced by Sean Daniel Company/Lauren Schmidt Hissrich) filmed multiple scenes at the abbey and surrounding valley; Gunpowder (BBC Two/HBO, 2017, written by Ronan Bennett and Kit Harington, directed by J. Blakeson) used the abbey as a location.