Rievaulx Abbey Community, Architecture, Memory

From its foundation in 1132, Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire was home to as many as 650 monks, and became one of the most important Cistercian abbeys, both architecturally and spiritually. This, the first architectural study of the abbey, as well as a review of its 800 year history, looks at the building itself, and the surrounding structures and landscape. Through photographs, plans and reconstructions, Fergusson and Harrison make a detailed study of the infirmary, the walled precinct, the service buildings, and the church itself, producing an historical interpretation of history and function in terms of the abbey's religious and domestic life.