J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

This is the right half of a double-page spread continued from folio 18 verso (D40836) opposite, recording the view north-east over the remains of Jervaulx Abbey towards Upper Wensleydale with East Witton Church on the hillside to the left, and Danby Hall backed by trees on the far side of the valley, to the right of centre. There is a detailed study of the abbey ruins at the bottom right, studied in greater detail on the following pages, folios 19 verso–20 recto (D11399–D11400). See also the Yorkshire 1 sketchbook (Tate D10951; Turner Bequest CXLIV 46) for a more distant view from the park, probably his first impression.

Jervaulx Abbey is about four miles north-west of Masham on the road to Middleham. Jervaulx was founded in 1156 as a Cistercian monastery and flourished until its dissolution in 1537. The church was fairly comprehensively razed, but substantial remains of the cloisters and other buildings survive. The site is privately owned and managed in a particularly sensitive way. In the summer it is covered with a profusion of flowers that enjoy the dry limestone environment.