Rievaulx Abbey

                                                                                       

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The Abbey was founded by St Bernard of Clairvaux in a bit to try and reform Christianity throughout europe and was started by 12 monks in the year 1132, they turned to farming sheep to make money and they were very good at it and turned vast areas of the moors into raising sheep for the woollen industry, its also been found that the monks made their own metal objects by smelting the Iron Ore from rocks taken off the moors. At the height of their time at Rievaulx during the time of Abbot Aelred in the years 1147-1166 there were seen from records that there were 140monks and 600 lay brothers at Rievaulx.