Glyn Coppack

An engaging study of Yorkshire's famous Fountains Abbeys.

At the height of the middle ages, there were hundreds of abbeys and priories throughout England. The ruins of some of those that were destroyed at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries are today seen as iconic medieval buildings - such as Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, designated a World Heritage site, or Tintern Abbey on the river Wye, immortalised by Wordsworth. These monasteries - particularly those of the Benedictine and Cistercian orders - were not simply powerhouses of prayer, but major local landowners who improved agriculture, replanned villages and founded new towns. For this reason, Glyn Coppack's far-ranging study not only looks at the churches and the immediate monastic buildings, but at the full range of ancillary buildings.

At the height of the middle ages, there were hundreds of abbeys and priories throughout England. The ruins of some of those that were destroyed at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries are today seen as iconic medieval buildings - such as Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, designated a World Heritage site, or Tintern Abbey on the river Wye, immortalised by Wordsworth. These monasteries - particularly those of the Benedictine and Cistercian orders - were not simply powerhouses of prayer, but major local landowners who improved agriculture, replanned villages and founded new towns. For this reason, Glyn Coppack's far-ranging study not only looks at the churches and the immediate monastic buildings, but at the full range of ancillary buildings.

Within the stunning 18th-century landscaped park of Studley Royal in Yorkshire, lies the ruins of Fountains Abbey, one of the finest examples of Cistercian architecture in Europe. Based on contemporary documentary evidence, excavations, and conservation work over the past30 years, Glyn Coppack outlines the historyfrom the first frontier mission center in 1132 toits subsequent growththrough the centuries."

Founded in 1088 by St Bruno at the Grande Chatreuse (hence their name) in France, the Carthusians came to Britain almost a hundred years later. Only nine permanent monasteries were established before the Reformation (and six of these were founded after the Black Death), but of the total of ten British charterhouses five have substantial remains (Mount Grace being the best preserved and most accessible) and a further two have excellent earthworks. As a result of recent archaeological investigation (much of it by the authors) a full picture of the order and its development is now possible. Individual chapters cover the origins of the order; the first Carthusians in Britain; the monasteries of the fourteenth century; the later monasteries of Mount Grace, Sheen and Perth; the Carthusians at the time of the Suppression of the Monasteries; and finally the recent contribution from archaeology.

An account full of insights into the impact of the White Monks in Britain.

Just who were the Cistercians, why were they so successful and what impact did they have on medieval Britain? Drawing extensively on the latest archaeological research as well as the documentary evidence, Coppack answers these questions.'