Those environmental vandals - the monks.

One of the most stunning detours in our travels through Yorkshire was to Rievaulx Abbey. Established in 1131 by Abbot Guillaume and 8 brother monks from Clairvaux in France, this was the first Cistercian Abbey in Northern England, and for many years one of the most powerful in all Europe. The ruins of the stone edifice that replaced their humble wooden origins are magnificent.

These monks took the principle of self sufficiency, an important part of the rule of St Benedict which they lived by ("they are truly monks when they live by the labour of their hands" he wrote), and made it an art form. "Everywhere peace, everywhere serenity" wrote Abbot Aelred of the secluded spot in the Rye Valley when he took over.

But it didn't last long - and there was nothing sustainable about their self-sufficiency.... Within a century, the monks had built dams to divert the river so that they could expand their building, built ponds for fish and to provide water for a mill and a smithy. They cut down nearby woods for timber and charcoal. Their farmlands spanned more than 6000 acres and raised sheep, cattle, bees, geese, dogs, cats, goats, cows, pigs, horses and fish (still not enough fish to cover the 1000 per day required on Fridays and other 'fast' days - they still had to buy some in each week, apparently), dairy produce and crops, and worked iron and pottery and ground flour in their own mill.

Up to 640 monks lived here in the abbey's heyday - 140 sworn brethren and 500 lay brothers, who had taken lesser vows and did most of the physical work - and their Abbot was a friend of King David of Scotland and correspondent of Henry I of England, Louis VI of France and Pope Alexander III.

Like many places, it was abandoned during Henry VIIIs reformation, and much of the buildings have fallen into decay, but many helpful signs shed light on the layout - the scriptorium, day room, sanotorium, bath-houses, Abbots quarters and, of course, the remains of a once-magnificent church. One wonders, if it weren't for Henry, how long they could have gone on before they ran out of natural resources, anyway...