Helmsley Tourist Attractions

The Baroque mansion was completed in 1713 for Sir Charles Dunscombe and rebuilt in 1879 after a major fire. Family pictures and Lord Feversham's collection of English and Continental furniture are on show and the principal rooms remain a fine example of the type of 'grand interior' popular at the turn of the century.

Some 3mi/4.8km northwest of Helmsley are the magnificent ruins of Rievaulx Abbey, a Cistercian house founded in 1131 by Walter l'Espec, Lord of Helmsley. The remains range in date between the 12th and the mid-13th C and are mainly Early English in style. They include the choir and transepts of the church, the triforium, the infirmary and the lavatory.

Only the keep, the west tower and the moat remain of its 12th C ruined castle, stone from which was used to build a manor house, now Duncombe Park.In the manor house there is an exhibition and tableau about the history of the castle.

On a terrace above the abbey, reached by a steep and narrow path, is a small castle, called the Temple and dating from 1758. From here most impressive views of the ruins and the whole valley can be enjoyed.