Fountains Abbey, 1600

This beautifully coloured map shows “Ryppon Towne and Mynster” and the first known drawing of Fountains Abbey. The map was made in 1600, just sixty years after the abbey had been destroyed in 1539 by King Henry VIII. Shown here you can see Ripon Cathedral in the first image and Fountains Abbey in the second image. Fountains Abbey has been drawn much smaller as if to diminish its importance.

Reference: WYL607/31

Individual houses have been drawn in surrounding villages and the rivers Skell, Laver and Ure are shown. The brown lines shown in some of the fields depict strip farming and areas of woodland are characterised by small drawings of trees. The full map shown below covers an area which stretches from Pateley Bridge to Ripon.

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