National Trust aims to save Yorkshire abbey from climate-linked flooding

A 2.5m scheme in the Skell Valley hopes to protect Fountains Abbey and the city of Ripon

Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, North Yorkshire, was originally set up by 13 Benedictine monks seeking refuge from the more extravagant, rowdy monks in York. Eight hundred years later, the abbey ruins and its gardens face another threat: the climate crisis.

The Skell Valley, where the ruins stand, has been flooded several times in recent years, raising fears that the UK's largest monastic ruins are at risk of irreparable damage. Now a 2.5m National Trust project - aided by a 1.4m lottery grant - has been greenlit to improve the landscape's resilience to changing weather.