Ruins Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire

You're standing at Fountains Abbey, near Ripon in North Yorkshire. In front of you is the ruin of a Cistercian monastery, and what a ruin it is. Historic England calls it the best preserved of English abbeys. Look at the tower first. It stands in an unusual spot, at the northern end of the north transept, and it's 160 feet tall. Abbot Marmaduke Huby had it built, not long before the monastery came to an end. His motto is still on it: honour and glory to God alone.