Remarkable ruins in England

Hidden away in a peaceful valley beside the River Rye, you’ll discover the otherworldly ruins of Rievaulx Abbey – all graceful arches and grand glassless windows surrounded by greenery. The impressive Cistercian abbey was founded in the 12th century, before being shut down and dismantled in 1538 as part of King Henry VIII’s suppression of the monasteries. Yorkshire’s countryside is dotted with the ruins of abbeysand monasteries with similar histories. Two of the most well-known are Fountains Abbey, an internationally recognised World Heritage Site on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, and Whitby Abbey, the Gothic, clifftop masterpiece which sits above the town and was famously an inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.