I am so far behind on my posting but will try to add a bit every night for a few days. Work has kept me busy over 12 hours a day but I try my best to take an hour out when I pass by something interesting even though I feel guilty. I doubt I am back this way again.
I drove by these ruins multiple times going to one of my client’s offices in Leeds – just an hour north of Manchester on the way towards Scotland generally. I finally stopped by and took a closer look and was very glad I did. The name of the ruins is Kirkstall Abbey. It was built originally around 1100 and added and modified over the next several hundred years. It has been in ruins for centuries after one of the King’s no longer liked Catholics and shut down most of the monasteries (can’t remember the King’s name).
These ruins are of a Catholic church and its monastery. It was so cool. As I said previously, Brits like to go to historical places and enjoy the area. Many times there is plenty of grass and you can see kids playing or people just sitting. I am not sure they really appreciate the old places they way I do but they at least recognize that it is somewhere cool to go and take in.
There is something very spiritual about being around a place like this especially when you realize that for centuries people just borrowed stones or walked among the ruins without hesitation. Today they are all historical markers and well protected and preserved.
