Ok ready for more History?
Mount Grace lay on the medieval road from York to Durham. (my posts re: York start HERE) It is the best preserved of the ten Carthusian Monasteries in England. Founded in 1398 by Thomas de Holland, Duke of Surrey & nephew to King Richard 2nd and then refounded in 1415 by Thomas Beaufort, Earl of Dorset and later Duke of Exeter, it was the last monastery established in Yorkshire before the Reformation (the part of our history where Henry VIII & Thomas Cromwell had them all pulled down). Unlike other monks who lived communally the Carthusians lived as hermits. They worked, meditated and said daily prayers in solitude in their own cells, meeting each other only for daily Matins and Vespers, and at the convent mass.
The priory was closed in 1539 at the Suppression of the Monasteries, it’s monks were given pensions, and most of the buildings dismantled. In the 17th century the north guest house was converted into a comfortable residence and at the end of the 19th century the industrialist Sir Lothian Bell extended the house in the Arts & Crafts style and began repairing the Priory ruins.
On visiting we were able to see the layout of the priory including a reconstructed and furnished Monks cell and the house that occupies the shell of the priory’s original guest house. I went with Sophie and as you can see it started out a grey day but we did get some blue skies towards the end of our visit. The extensive gardens were beautiful too, so lots of photo’ s to get through, and I’ll split them into a few posts. This set of shots is just the main Priory itself.
laters gaters
😉
fraggle ~ rocking a camera across the Universe 
Buttercups is awesome and the contrast of sandstone, blue sky and green grass is very special on the others. Looks like an inspiration already. Nice weekend. Reinhold
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Thanks Reinhold. Just taken delivery of a new 50-230 lens for the Fuji, it’s awesome quality but very reasonably priced can heartily recommend it!
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Wow, congrats. Interested to see first results. I have a look. Lots of fun shooting.
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Yet again beautiful shots…and speaking of shots I think its the Carthusians in France who make the lethal green chartreuse…which is sort of like absinthe. A friend of mine has a predilection for it 🙂
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Yes I think you’re right. I had absinthe once. Was lucky to wake up alive the next day! Can’t even go near the stuff now without my body going into panic mode. Them wer’t days! 🙂
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They were…ah sure maybe we’ll get a second wind! 🙂
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These ruins are so lovely I’m thinking that ruins is a terrible word for them.
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Yes I agree, can’t think of an alternative though!
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Canada is about to turn 148 years old next week – we don’t have the history or the historic architecture that you have. We do have rich people who have commissioned fake ruins to remind them of back home. So we have ruins that were never buildings, they were built to just be crumbling pieces that make for an interesting walk and an interesting background for photos.
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Lol well at least that’s good for photographers:)
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Fantastic pics Fraggy. Love seeing the Olde World and reading the history. Can’t wait to see it up close and personal. And as far as lenses go I’m all set . But hopefully by the time I get to you.. I will have a mirrorless set up.
I don’t have any one favorite pic, I loved’em all.
Have a great week end. And thank for sharing❤️🍻cheers
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🍸🍸 cheers Kathy 😊
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Epic light 🙂 a powerful place filled with the energy of the past. The greens are fantastic too, our grass is more like a muted dark green, thanks kind lady.
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Cheers Francis it was a good day. Was just saying today how many shades of green we can see from bedroom window.
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