Hello gelvisblue I'm very surprised by your review, how can you not just be in wonder and intrigue as you walked around the site? The history seeping from the magnificent ruins from nearly 900 years ago! The presbytery of the church, one of the finest examples of early English architecture. The magnificent refectory and the remains of the undercroft below. The monks choir and crossing in the south transept, with the doorway still in tact leading to the dormitory. The remarkable, unusual chapter house with its shrine to Abott William dating from 1250. The beautiful cloister with details like the piscine(holy water basin) Do I need to go on? Rievaulx Abbey was a major architectural influence on the medieval monastic church from the 12th to the 16th centuries and, from the mid 18th century. Rievaulx includes some of the earliest surviving buildings of any Cistercian monastery in Europe. Abott William's stone monastery was the first great Cistercian church to be built in England on the model of the church and claustral layout that was being developed at Clairvaux from about 1135. That makes Rievaulx one of the earliest surviving examples in Europe of what subsequently became the standard plan for all Cistercian abbey's, and for those of the other major monastic orders. Maybe you should visit other places other than ones like Rievaulx Abbey, as you clearly have no interest, understanding, or appreciation, of fine pieces of vastly important places of history in England. Go back, get the audio guide, and try to appreciate how lucky you are to be able to visit and learn about this remarkable place.