Rievaulx ( ) is a small village and civil parish in Rye Dale within the North York Moors National Park near Helmsley in North Yorkshire, England and is located in what was the inner court of Rievaulx Abbey, close to the River Rye. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of

Sproxton, North Yorkshire Sproxton is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is south of Helmsley and on the junction between the A170 road and the B1257 road on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. The village was ...

. The inner court of the monastery contained buildings such as the brewhouse, bakehouse and guesthouse. Its name originated as ''Rye'' (the river) + Norman-French ''val'' or ''valle'' = "valley". Its old local pronunciation was as "Rivers", and changed to "Reevo" when education brought a general familiarity with the French language. St Mary the Virgin Rievaulx 1(Nigel Coates)

St Mary the Virgin Rievaulx 1(Nigel Coates)

Aelred of Rievaulx, the English

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monk, was

abbot of Rievaulx The Abbot of Rievaulx was the head of the Cistercian monastic community of Rievaulx Abbey, founded in 1131 by Walter l'Espec in North Yorkshire, northern England. The Abbots of Rievaulx were amongst the most powerful Christian leaders in northern E ...

from 1147 until his death in 1167. He is regarded by Anglicans and Roman Catholics as a saint, and is buried in the Abbey. The abbey was closed as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

in 1538 and the grounds were bought by the Earl of Rutland. He was keen to continue the iron-smelting industry which had been conducted by the monks. He therefore established a

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

-fired

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

and the associated structures and workings in what became Rievaulx village. This continued until its disruption during the Civil War, with production ceasing in 1647. The village then became

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

in nature and remains as a small settlement, situated below the Abbey and the

Rievaulx Terrace & Temples Rievaulx Terrace is a site located in the North York Moors National Park, in North Yorkshire, England, overlooking Rievaulx Abbey and owned by the National Trust. The site is a grass-covered terrace following a serpentine course across the side ...

. The old watermill has been converted into a house around the workings, many of which are still extant, including the mill wheel, though the mill has been out of operation for a long time. The miller's cottage also still stands and is a separate abode. Almost all of the other buildings in the village are built with stones from the ruins of the Abbey. The only buildings built with materials from other sources are the buildings constructed after 1917, following the conservation of the Abbey. When he was raised to the House of Lords in 1983, former prime minister

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

took the title Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, but chose to pronounce it Rivers (see above).

References

External links

Information on the origin of the village
Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire {{Ryedale-geo-stub

See also

References

External links