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Fountains Abbey: History
Fountains Abbey: Buildings
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The acquisition of lands and rights [contd.] (4/33)
The twelfth century was effectively the heyday of
Fountains’ economy, with the community developing the grange system
of farming and extending its holdings throughout Yorkshire, Cumberland,
Lancashire and Lincolnshire. By the second half of the thirteenth
century, Fountains had established the pattern of its estates.
Fountains had many
possessions in the northern hinterlands, but had interests in about
a hundred other towns and vills. These included upland areas for
grazing, dales for agriculture, marginal lands that could be brought
into
cultivation,
and rights to make fisheries, extract minerals and dig peat.(10)
The speed with which Fountains acquired its
holdings in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries is a testimony
to the height of the abbey’s
reputation at this time. Men and women from all walks of life were
clearly drawn to the Skelldale community, choosing these Cistercians
as the worthy
recipients of their patronage. Fountains’ remarkable
expansion is also a reflection of the astuteness and energy of
its abbots, who actively sought to expand the community’s
possessions, to establish granges and to create compact estates.(11) |
