he church
was the cloister-court. On one side was the transept and chapter-house,
and on the other a long corridor supporting the dormitory. This was one
hundred yards long, extending across the river, and abutting against the
crags on the other side. South of the cloister-court was the refectory
and other apartments. To the eastward was a group of buildings
terminating in a grand house for the abbot, which also bridged the
river. All these are now in picturesque ruin, the long corridor, with
its vaulted roof supported by a central row of columns with broad
arches, being considered one of the most impressive religious remains in
England. One of the chief uses to which the Fountains Abbey stone-quarry
was devoted was the building, in the reign of James I., of a fine
Jacobean mansion as the residence for its then owner, Sir Stephen
Proctor. This is Fountains Hall, an elaborate structure of that period
which stands near the abbey gateway, and to a great extent atones, by
its quaint attractiveness, for the vandalism that despoiled the abbey to
furnish materials for its construction. In fact, the mournful reflection
is always uppermost in viewing the remains of this famous place that it
would have been a grand old ruin could it have been preserved, but the
spoilers who plundered it for their own profit are said to have
discovered, in the fleeting character of the riches thus obtained, that
ill-gotten gains never prosper.

RICHMOND CASTLE.

[Illustration: RICHMOND CASTLE.]

Proceeding northward from Ripon, and crossing over into the valley of
the river Swale, we reach one of the most picturesquely located towns of
England--Richmond, whose great castle is among the best English remains
of the Norman era. The river flows over a broken and rocky bed around
the base of a cliff, and crowning the precipice above is the great
castle, magnificent even in decay. It was founded in the reign of
William the Conqueror by Alan the Red, who was created Earl of Richmond,
and it covers a space of about five acres on a rock projecting over the
river, the prominent tower of the venerable keep being surrounded by
walls and buildings. A lane leads up from the market-place of the town
to the castle-gate, alongside of which are Robin Hood's Tower and the
Golden Tower, the latter named from a tradition of a treasure being once
found there. The Scolland's Hall, a fine specimen of Norman work,
adjoins this tower. The keep is one hundred feet high