Step inside the estate's oldest building, a rare survivor. Watch the wheel turning as it did 800 years ago and try your hand at milling in the only 12th-century Cistercian cornmill left in Britain.
Whet your appetite with these five highlights from the Mill:
Flour power!
© National Trust
Visit the Mill and you’ll discover first-hand exactly how the enterprising monks of Fountains Abbey put their noses to the grindstone to produce their daily bread.
In the Mill's heyday the two pairs of grindstones produced around 600lb of flour a day. They would have ground wheat, oats and barley. Have a go at grinding corn yourself and see whether you would have made the grade as a 12th-century miller.
The monks and the Mill
© National Trust
Not even monks can live on spiritual fulfilment alone. Bread was at the heart of the monks’ simple but wholesome diet, so the Mill played a vital part in feeding the whole abbey.
Stimulating displays will take you through the productive 850-year history of this, one of Europe's few surviving watermills. Make discoveries about how the monks ate and watch an animated film to see what a novice monk's life would have been like.
The Mill also houses a collection of finds from the medieval estate. One of the star exhibits is the impressive Abbot's ring. Its large size wasn't just for style, the Abbot used it to wax seal documents.
The waterwheel
© National Trust
Today you can see the 1840s waterwheel, from the Mill’s time as a sawmill, turning again.
Once, the Mill’s grindstones were powered by not one but two wheels. Each grindstone was attended by around five lay-brothers, and later paid servants, who brought in the grain, controlled the stones, and collected and bagged the flour.
Roger the Rat
© National Trust
Children will have great fun following Roger the Rat’s trail through the Mill. Look for his picture in each room and discover fascinating facts about the Mill throughout its 800-year history. But don’t worry Roger and his family moved out a long time ago!
Putting the wheels in motion
© National Trust
The Mill may be the oldest building at Fountains Abbey but in one sense it's also the newest. It was opened to the public in June 2001 after years of restoration. This major project, jointly funded by the National Trust and English Heritage, began in 1993 and transformed the Mill back to its best.
Walls have been re-pointed, decaying wooden lintels replaced and steel ties inserted to stabilise a leaning wall. And the Mill is once more seeing the light - a new generator and the old restored turbine from 1928 provide electricity to help power its display lighting.
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