Rievaulx Abbey, founded in 1132, is a former Cistercian abbey, headed by the powerful Abbot of Rievaulx, located in the small village of Rievaulx near Helmsley in North Yorkshire. Riveaulx Abbey was founded by twelve monks from Clairvaux Abbey as a mission centre for the colonisation of the north of England and Scotland, it was the first Cistercian abbey in the north. With time it became one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire, second only to Fountains Abbey in fame. (07/30/1993)