Fountains Abbey (Ripon)

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
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Locality
Coordinates 54.109553, -1.581548
Adm. div. West Riding of Yorkshire
Vicinity 4.75 km SW of Ripon
Type Monument
Interest Literary locale
Status Extant
First Record c. 1650
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Fountains Abbey.
Fountains Abbey from the south-west.
Fountains Abbey viewed from the west / Photo by David Iliff. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Fountains Abbey / From Hodges's 1904 book.
Fountains Abbey / From Gasquet, 1908.
File:StudleyAbbey1.JPG
Interior of the abbey church looking down the nave.
Fountains Abbey from the east / From: Walbran (Surtees Soc.), 1863.
Plan of Fountains Abbey / From early 20th century encyclopedia.
Fountains Abbey / From Black's Picturesque Guide to Yorkshire, 1858.
Fountains Abbey / Drawing by Thomas Macquoid.
Fountains Abbey / From Walbran, 1857.
Fountains Abbey / From Walbran, 1857.
Fountains Abbey, south transept doorway / From Macquoid, Thomas; Macquoid, Katharine. About Yorkshire (London, 1894), p. 254.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-20. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-05-08.

Fountains Abbey is the home of the "Curtal Friar" and the scene of the main action of the ballad of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar (Version A in MS of c. 1650, version B first printed 1663). This Cistercian monastery was founded in 1132 and dissolved in 1539. The ruins are a grade I listed building owned by the National Trust. Together with the gardens and adjacent deer park they form the UNESCO World Heritage site Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey.[1]

Although the play of Robin Hood and the Friar (printed c. 1560) has essentially the same plot as the ballad of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar it never mentions Fountains Abbey or refers to Robin Hood's adversary as the Curtal Friar. The ballad is the first known source to connect the friar with Fountains Abbey.

Within the abbey grounds lie (or lay) two places named after Robin Hood: Robin Hood's Wood and Robin Hood's Well, while a third, the Lady Chapel, has Robin Hood associations. In Nidderdale, some 12 km west of the abbey grounds, Fountains Abbey owned an extensive, mainly moorland, area known as Fountains Earth, within which was found a place named Robin Hood's Park and another Robin Hood's Well.

Quotations

[c. 1650:]
When Robin came to Fontaines Abey,
Wheras that fryer lay,
He was ware of the fryer where he stood,
And to him thus can he say.[2]

[1663:]
That causd Will Scadlock to laugh,
He laughed full heartily:
'There lives a curtal frier in Fountains Abby
Will beat both him and thee.

'That curtal frier in Fountains Abby
Well can a strong bow draw;
He will beat you and your yeomen,
Set them all on a row.'

'If thou wilt forsake fair Fountains Dale,
And Fountains Abby free,
Every Sunday throughout the year,
A noble shall be thy fee.[3]

Allusions

Gazetteers

Sources

Maps

Background

Many items here have not been seen. Although several briefly mention the Robin Hood traditions connected with the abbey, they are of more interest for the general background information they provide on the abbey.

Also see

Notes

  1. Fountains Abbey website.
  2. Curtal Friar A, st. 5.
  3. Curtal Friar B, sts. 6-7, 39.


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