… a
place uninhabited for all the centuries back, thick set with
thorns, lying between the slopes
of mountains
and among rocks jutting out on both sides; fit, rather, it seemed,
to be the lair of wild beasts than the home of human beings. Its
name was Skelldale.
[‘Foundation history of Fountains’ (Narratio)]
(1)
The Cistercians
sought to live simply by the fruits of their own labour and not
from the sweat and toil of others. Each community was designed
to be self-sufficient, providing the necessary food, clothing,
building materials, fuel and other requirements. Every Cistercian
house therefore needed a variety of landed holdings and rights,
including arable and pastoral lands, woodland, mills, fisheries
and minerals. Upon its foundation, each abbey was endowed with
the necessary resources. The monks had then to acquire additional
lands and rights to support growth and perhaps even to finance
the establishment of daughter-houses.
Fountains Abbey had its origins
in 1132, when a small community of monks settled in the valley
of the River Skell, near Ripon.
The group encountered severe difficulties and was on the point
of disbanding, but the arrival of several wealthy recruits in
1135 brought a change in fortunes and set the community on a solid
economic
footing. Fountains acquired a vast number of lands and rights
throughout the twelfth century, and at a remarkable rate. By the
end of the
century, Fountains had established the core of its estates, setting
itself up as one of the wealthiest religious houses in the North
of England and the wealthiest Cistercian abbey in the country.
The community ultimately had holdings in almost 140 different
vills scattered throughout Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire
and Cumbria.
Whilst
Fountains’ acquisition was in many ways exceptional,
with other Cistercian abbeys, such as Rievaulx and Sawley,
starting out on a firm footing and then encountering difficulties,
its later
experiences were less unique. In the late thirteenth century Fountains
faced the same economic hardships that were suffered by other religious
communities and, like other Cistercian abbeys, Fountains began
the process of assigning the management of its estates to laymen,
either as tenants or keepers of abbey demesne. In May 1538, on
the eve of the Dissolution, Abbot Marmaduke
Bradley began to lease
out the demesne lands, probably a means to run down the community’s
stock.(2)