The most striking view of the abbey is obtained by leaving the main road and taking the footpath across Duncombe Park, where a sudden turn brings one in sight of a bend in the Rye, with the great roofless church rising on the left bank of the river.  The principal remains of the fine old abbey, one of the most beautiful ruins in the kingdom, consist of the choir and transept of the church, and the refectory.  The hospitium or guest house was formerly on the right of the lane leading to Helmsley.  The great nave of the church is now a shapeless ruin, but from certain indications it may be seen that it was Norman, and probably the work of D’Espec.  The lower parts of the transept are Norman, and the remainder Early English.

The magnificent tower arch, 75 feet high, is still standing, and one of the most striking views of the ancient fabric is the crumbling nave as it appears framed in this lofty and wonderfully-proportioned opening, with a background of rich English foliage and landscape.

West of the nave were the cloisters, of which only a few arches now remain, and opening from their west wall is the fine Early English refectory, with the reading-desk still existing.  Underneath the refectory there are the remains of the Norman dormitory.

Near the bridge, at the lower end of the village of Rievaulx, a place still called the “Forge,” was possibly an ironworks under the superintendence of the monks.

[Illustration:  Photochrom Co., Ltd.

RIEVAULX ABBEY.]

BRIXHAM, DEVON

LANDING-PLACE OF WILLIAM III.

=How to get there.=—­Train from Paddington.  Great Western Railway. =Nearest Station.=—­Brixham. =Distance from London.=—­222-1/2 miles. =Average Time.=—­Varies between 5-1/4 to 6-3/4 hours.

                     1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=—­Single 34s. 0d. 21s. 4d. 17s. 0-1/2d. 
          Return 59s. 8d. 37s. 4d. ...

=Accommodation Obtainable.=—­“The Queen’s Hotel,” “The Bolton,”
  “The George Hotel,” “The Globe,” etc.

On the southern side of Tor Bay is Brixham, the fishing village selected by William of Orange as a landing-place when in 1688, at the request of the English Parliament, he brought over an army raised in Holland.  It was from here, too, that he commenced his victorious march to London with thirteen thousand men—­Exeter, Bristol, and other towns throwing open their gates to welcome the Prince of Orange.  The French, on the momentous occasion of the visit of Admiral Tourville to the English coast during the reign of James II., found Tor Bay a safe place for their fleet to anchor, and William of Orange, probably having heard of this, chose the same portion of the Devonshire seaboard.  The exact spot on which the Dutch prince first placed his foot on shore is marked by a brass footprint, and close by stands the statue of England’s third William, overlooking the quaint quay, the brown-sailed fishing-boats, and the old-world village.