| The Cistercian order was noted for its strict religious beliefs and spartan way of life, and the monks' daily lives consisted only of prayer, work and study.
By the middle of the 14th Century, numbers at Rufford had dwindled and the Abbey struggled against continuing decline. When Henry VIII started to dissolve the monasteries in 1536, Rufford was one of the first to go because of its poverty and run down state.
Following Dissolution, the Crown granted the Abbey to the Talbots, one of England's richest and most powerful families. George Talbot, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, transformed it into a country house. In 1626, the estate passed to the Saviles, a wealthy Yorkshire family. Sir George Savile rebuilt the house and landscaped the gardens, making it his principal country seat. Over the next 300 years the estate saw many changes through the long line of Saviles who followed Sir George, including the addition of a stable block, a classical Bath House/Orangery, and the creation of the present lake and mill buildings. Following the death of the 2nd Lord Savile in 1931, the trustees of the young 3rd Lord Savile decided to sell the estate and, in 1938, the doors to Rufford were closed.
Following the acquisition of the Abbey remains and part of the grounds by Nottinghamshire County Council, the badly damaged north and east wings were demolished and the remaining part put under the care of English Heritage. The Jacobean Wing which, in Victorian times, formed the kitchen and servants quarters, was restored in 1997 and now houses the Savile Restaurant.
An exhibition focusing on the life of the monks who once lived at Rufford can be found in the medieval vaulted stone Undercroft of Rufford Abbey. 'Rufford the Cistercian Abbey' traces the varying functions of the Cistercian order in England from the beginning of the 12th Century through to the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII.
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