KIEVAULX ABBEY. 421 



omed in a deep valley, through which the Rye winds 

 its course ; and from which the village derives its 

 name. The place exhibits every intermixture of 

 rural and picturesque beauty : it is composed of 

 groups of cottages, shaded by trees of spontaneous 

 growth. The great object of attraction in this se- 

 questered place are the mouldering ruins of 



RIEVAULX ABBEY, 



of which Burton gives the following account : > 

 In the reign of king Henry I. flourished St. Ber 

 nard, abbot of Clareval ; a man full of devotion, and 

 chief of many monks, some of whom he sent to 

 England, about A. D. 1128, 28 of Henry I. ; who 

 were honourably received by botli king and king- 

 dom ; and particularly by Sir Walter 1'Espec ; who 

 about A. D. 1131, allotted to some of them a solitary 

 place in Blakemore, near Hemelac, now Helmsley, 

 surrounded by steep hills, and covered with wood 

 and ling, near the angles of three different vales, 

 with each a rivulet running through them; that pas 

 sing by where the abbey was- built being called Rie, 

 whence this vale took its name, and this religious 

 house was thence called the abbey of Rie-val. The 

 descent of this valley reaches chiefly from north to 

 south. Here William, the first abbot, (one of those 

 monks sent by Barnard,) a man full of great virtue, 

 and of an excellent memory, began the building of 

 the monastery, and dedicated it to the virgin Mary ; 

 whiclrthe said Walter 1'Espec amply endowed. 



Pope Alexander III., (who reigned from A. D. 

 1159 to 1181,) by his bull, dated A. D,. 1160, top* 



