AMPLEFORTH Abbey has received nearly £3m to help improve understanding of modern day monastic life.

The historic abbey church is home to the largest Benedictine community in Britain and the lottery windfall is designed to help more visitors gain an insight into monastic life in the 21st century.

According to the abbey, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) awarded the £2.9m grant in recognition of the importance of attracting “significantly more visitors” to Ampleforth’s 2,200 acre estate.

The funds will be used to help improve understanding of monastic life and heritage with the 59 monks engaging with visitors through organised retreats, acts of workshop, and through the visitor centre, tea room, orchard, shop and landscape.

The estate is situated in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty(AONB).

The money will also allow urgent repairs to Ampleforth’s Grade I listed abbey church, which was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.

It also means repairs can be carried out on the Grade II listed Monk’s Bridge, which was built in 1854 to enable the monks to maintain their private enclosure when walking to their nearby cemetery.

Sue Fisher, director of development at Ampleforth Abbey, said; “Receiving HLF’s support is a testament to the historical significance of Ampleforth Abbey.

“This National Lottery money will enable us to encourage more visitors to come to see and experience the Benedictine way of life in the 21st century.”

The Benedictine community was established at Ampleforth in 1802 after the monks were exiled to France during the Reformation. The first abbey church was created at the site in 1857, before the present enlarged church was built in 1961.

Members of the monastic community work in various roles from helping create the successful Ampleforth Abbey cider from its orchards and helping at Ampleforth College.

One of Ampleforth’s former pupils, Downton Abbey writer Lord Julian Fellowes said: “I am delighted to hear that Ampleforth Abbey is to receive help from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

“My love of the theatre was inspired during my time there, and I hope that the abbey with its long tradition, its wide range of facilities and its wonderful location will continue to be a source of inspiration to many others.”

Sir Peter Luff, Chair of HLF, said: “Ampleforth Abbey is a place of inspiration and beauty. It has entranced past generations and will continue to do so in the future thanks to National Lottery players. We’re investing £3m to help the abbey to be the vibrant and welcoming place the monks rightly wish.

“Visitors will see more clearly than ever the wonderful heritage of buildings, of nature and of faith as they marvel at the abbey’s breath-taking architecture, enjoy the surrounding landscape and learn how its Benedictine monastic community works in the 21st century.”