The River Ribble rises in Yorkshire but comes to maturity in Lancashire. Not long after crossing from the white rose county to the land of the red rose it flows past Sawley. More accurately, I suppose, one should say the village of Sawley grew up by the banks of the Ribble. Before there was much by way of a village there was the Abbey, and before them both there was the Ribble.

On a warm Summer afternoon it is nice to stroll around the ruins of the abbey, maybe sitting for a rest after a walk by the river. There are no extensive building such as those over in Yorkshire at Fountains Abbey or Rievaulx, or for that matter further west into Lancashire at Whalley, but this is a pleasant spot surrounded by beautiful Lancashire countryside and English Heritage have provided information boards giving something of the history of the place.