The Fountains community required extensive lands and
rights if it was to be a self-sufficient unit. Pope Eugenius’s
confirmation of the abbey’s lands in 1146 highlights the sheer
speed with which Fountains acquired holdings in its immediate vicinity
and the scale of this expansion. By the mid-twelfth century the
community had interests nearby, for example, in Rainborough, New
Hall and Trout
Dale, but had also made inroads further afield, for instance, at
Cowton, some twenty miles away in the North York Moors. Pope Eugenius’ confirmation
also shows that Fountains had by this time firmly established the
grange system of farming, and had created six of these agricultural
centres from which the community could directly exploit the land.
These were
at Sutton, Warsill, Cayton, Dacre, Aldburgh and Cowton. All but
Cowton lay within ten miles of the abbey.(7) By
the end of the twelfth century
Fountains had established a staggering thirty-two granges, and
by the
early thirteenth century had created another seven; twenty-eight
of these remained in the abbey’s hands until the Dissolution.(8)