The abbey ruins at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, North Yorkshire National Trust Images/David Goacher
Mark Newman is one of our archaeologists, based in the North of England. In this blog, Mark looks back at his work with the National Trust, and in particular, at the World Heritage Site at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden in North Yorkshire. Discover the past, present and what the future of Fountains Abbey holds, as Mark takes us on a journey through his discoveries from ancient floor tiles to monks graves and the visitor centre.
I remember the first moment I saw Fountains Abbey. It was in 1967 and my mother had won one of the first colour televisions in a competition. The BBC was testing the system before its full launch with trade test transmission films, one of which was about the Yorkshire abbeys. At five years old, I was already certain that I wanted to be an archaeologist. I lived in Kent and my concept of