The Bussio Life

Fountains Abbey


Traveling the United Kingdom

We took a bus and traveled up north through the beautiful land of England's countryside. We went to York, Manchester, liverpool, Preston, the lake District, Fountains abbey, Beatrix potter's home, hostels, Wordsworth's home "Dove Cottage", York Minister Cathedral and places that were important in church history. We went to all of these awesome place and took scenic drives through the countryside on a bus, live changing drive!

In northern yorkshire a ruined Cistercian monastery was founded in 1132.  Fountains Abbey was by far my FAVORITE! I would love to visit there again! Thirteen monks that had been exiled to this valley realized that they had all the materials that they needed to build a monastery, they used the materials and started building an amazing monastery. This monastery was functional for around 400 years, up until King Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries. The Abbey buildings and over 500 acres were sold to royalty and taken from the monks. 

Rainbow colors can be seen throughout each stone used to build this monastery, the rocks make the abbey look amazing especially with the vibrant green grass that surrounds it. Walking behind the monastery I saw the water gardens and it is amazing to be able to see things that had been built without machinery we have in these latter-days. There are hug stone walls that surround the monastery, now covered by trees, but there are places that can be seen where rock was removed from to help provide the materials used for building. 

The way the terrain was used and the huge building efforts shows how important building this monastery was to these exiled monks. This made me question how much I believe my religion.  I could never see myself actually cutting rocks from a side bank, building giant walls, and arches so that I could have a place to worship my God. I am amazed by the great efforts that these people went through to be able to have a place to worship. They really believed that they had the correct word of God and they truly believed that they were doing something that was justifiably right and necessary for salvation.  This makes me question how much I would be willing to give for my religion and makes me question why I believe the things I believe.  I also question why these monks believed what they believed to be true even with other religions being pushed on them.  Understanding what I believe has become more apparent to me since I have had the opportunity to visit all of these temples, Abbeys, Cathedrals and monasteries.