Rievaulx Abbey
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 Location within North Yorkshire
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| Monastery information | |
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| Order | Cistercian |
| Established | 1132 |
| Disestablished | 1538 |
| Mother house | Clairvaux Abbey |
| Diocese | Diocese of York |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Walter l'Espec and Thurstan, Archbishop of York |
| Important associated figures | Ailred of Rievaulx |
| Site | |
| Location | Rievaulx, North Yorkshire, England |
| Coordinates | 54°15′27″N 1°7′0″W / 54.25750°N 1.11667°WCoordinates: 54°15′27″N 1°7′0″W / 54.25750°N 1.11667°W |
| Visible remains | substantial |
| Public access | yes |
Rievaulx Abbey /riːˈvoʊ/ ree-VOH is a former Cistercian abbey in Rievaulx, near Helmsley in the North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England. Headed by the Abbot of Rievaulx, it was one of the wealthiest abbeys in England until it was dissolved by Henry VIII of England in 1538. Its ruins are a tourist attraction, owned and maintained by English Heritage.
Rievaulx Abbey was founded in 1132 by twelve monks from Clairvaux Abbey as a mission for the colonisation of the north of England and Scotland. It was the first Cistercian abbey in the north. With time it became one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire, second only to Fountains Abbey in fame.
Its remote location was ideal for the Cistercians, whose desire was to follow a strict life of prayer and self-sufficiency with little contact with the outside world. The patron, Walter Espec, settled another Cistercian community, founding Wardon Abbey in Bedfordshire on unprofitable wasteland on one of his inherited estates.
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