Best castles and abbeys in North Yorkshire, ranked
Ruined abbey arches in a wooded Yorkshire valley at dusk
Ten ruins and strongholds ranked by what they actually deliver on the day, from a World Heritage abbey with 800 acres of water garden to a keep you can climb in twenty minutes.
1. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, near Ripon
Nothing else in the county comes close. Founded in 1132 and dissolved in 1539, Fountains is the largest monastic ruin in Britain, and the genius of the site is that an 18th-century landowner built a Georgian water garden downstream from it, so you walk from mirror-still canals and follies into the abbey nave. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, run by the National Trust with English Heritage involvement, and it takes a full day rather than a stop. The deer park beyond holds red, sika and fallow herds and is free to walk.
Practicalities: it is four miles west of Ripon, there are two entrances, and the walk between the main visitor centre and the abbey is around 800 metres downhill, meaning uphill on the way back. There is a shuttle in season. Go early or late; the middle of a summer Sunday is heaving. Admission applies and members enter free, and opening times vary through the year, so confirm with the National Trust before travelling. The best month is October, when the water garden turns and the light is low.
2. Rievaulx Abbey and 3. Whitby Abbey
Rievaulx, near Helmsley, is the connoisseur's choice: a Cistercian house of 1132 set in a narrow wooded valley, with the great presbytery still standing three storeys and a museum holding the site's finds. It beats Fountains for atmosphere and loses on scale. Combine it with Rievaulx Terrace above, a curving Georgian grass promenade with two temples and framed views down onto the ruin, and walk the 5.5km Cleveland Way path from Helmsley rather than driving between the two.
Whitby Abbey wins on drama and loses on peace. The 13th-century shell stands on the East Cliff headland above the harbour, reached by the 199 steps from Church Street past St Mary's churchyard, and it is the reason Whitby looks the way it does from every angle. The site is English Heritage and includes a museum in Cholmley House. Go at opening or in the last hour, in a wind, out of season. In August at 2pm it is a queue with a view.
4. Richmond Castle and 5. Skipton Castle
Richmond's Norman keep, begun in 1071 and rising over 30 metres, stands directly above the River Swale with one of the finest surviving 11th-century curtain walls in England. Climb it: the view takes in the cobbled market place, the Swaledale hills and Easby Abbey downstream. The cell block used for conscientious objectors in 1916, with its graffiti, is the most affecting thing on site and the least expected. Allow ninety minutes, then walk the falls path below the castle.
Skipton Castle is the opposite proposition and arguably better value: not a ruin but one of the most complete medieval castles in England, roofed, floored and walkable, with the Conduit Court and its yew tree at the centre. Children get more from Skipton than from any ruin in the county because there are rooms, stairs and a dungeon rather than grass and interpretation boards. It sits at the top of Skipton High Street, which has a market four days a week, so the day builds itself.
6. Middleham, 7. Bolton Castle and 8. Helmsley
Middleham, in Wensleydale, was Richard III's northern power base and retains a massive 12th-century keep among the ruins. The village around it is a working racehorse town, with strings crossing the road to the gallops on the moor above at dawn, which is the real reason to be there in the morning. Bolton Castle at Castle Bolton, six miles west, is privately owned, largely intact, and held Mary, Queen of Scots for six months from 1568; it has falconry displays and a medieval garden, and the view over Wensleydale from the courtyard is superb.
Helmsley Castle is smaller, split by a dramatic sheared east tower, and works best as part of a town day: castle, then the walled garden next door, then the market place. Do not build a special journey around it. If you are in Ryedale, the stronger pairing is Helmsley Walled Garden plus Rievaulx, with the castle as a thirty-minute add-on. Opening times for all of these vary seasonally and some close on certain weekdays out of season, so check before setting off.
9. Scarborough Castle and 10. Byland, Jervaulx, Mount Grace
Scarborough Castle occupies a headland between the two bays with 2,500 years of occupation behind it, from Iron Age settlement to a Roman signal station to a Norman keep shelled by German warships in 1914. The walk out along the barbican and around the headland is bracing and the views down onto South Bay are the best in town. It is worth an hour and a half, and it is the one Scarborough sight that justifies leaving the beach.
Then the quiet three. Byland, near Coxwold, has an astonishing half-rose window standing in a field and green glazed floor tiles still in place. Jervaulx, in Wensleydale, is privately owned, unmanned, and grown over with wildflowers in June, entered through an honesty box, and it is the most romantic ruin in Yorkshire for exactly that reason. Mount Grace Priory near Northallerton preserves a Carthusian cell reconstructed with its garden, which explains monastic solitude better than any abbey nave. All three are half-empty on a weekday.
What to skip, and how to save money
Skip Clifford's Tower in York if your time is short and you have Richmond or Skipton on the list: it is a handsome 13th-century quatrefoil on a mound with a good deck view, but it is small and the queue in summer is disproportionate. Skip driving to two big abbeys in one day; Fountains alone will absorb five hours, and Rievaulx deserves an unhurried afternoon. And skip peak Saturdays at anything on the National Trust or English Heritage list between late July and the end of August.
On cost, this county is where memberships pay. Fountains and Rievaulx Terrace are National Trust; Rievaulx Abbey, Whitby Abbey, Richmond, Scarborough, Helmsley, Middleham, Byland and Mount Grace are English Heritage. Two adults visiting six or seven paid sites over a week will spend more on individual tickets than on an annual membership, and both organisations sell shorter passes for visitors. Skipton and Bolton castles are private and outside both schemes. Prices change annually, so check current rates before you decide.
Building a two or three-day route
The efficient northern loop bases you in Richmond or Leyburn: Richmond Castle and Easby Abbey on day one, Middleham and Bolton Castle plus Aysgarth Falls on day two, Jervaulx and Masham on day three. Driving distances are short, 15-25 minutes between stops, and Wensleydale accommodation runs £110-160 a night in village inns with parking, which keeps the whole thing simple.
The southern loop bases you in Ripon or Helmsley: Fountains and Studley Royal for a full day, then Byland, Coxwold and Sutton Bank, then Rievaulx and Helmsley. If you only have one night, stay in Helmsley at £130-190 and do Rievaulx on foot along the Cleveland Way rather than by car; arriving at the abbey from the ridge, with the ruin appearing below you in the valley, is the best approach to any monastic site in England and it costs nothing but two hours.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Helmsley.
Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, near Ripon. It combines the largest monastic ruin in Britain with a Georgian water garden and a deer park, and it fills five hours comfortably. Arrive at opening or after 3pm to avoid the mid-afternoon crowds in summer.
If you plan six or more paid sites in a week, it usually pays for itself, since the county's ruins split between the two organisations. Both sell shorter visitor passes. Skipton and Bolton castles are privately run and charge separately. Check current prices with each organisation before buying.
Skipton Castle, because it is roofed and complete rather than a lawn with footings, so there are stairs, chambers and a dungeon to explore. Richmond's keep climb is the runner-up. Fountains is magnificent but reads as scenery to under-eights unless you make the deer park the main event.
