Corfe Castle came joint second/third.

Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire has been voted as Britain’s most romantic ruin in a nationwide survey of 2,445 people, carried out by Countryfile Magazine.

In what proved to be a close-run poll, the spectacular coastal ruin won first place ahead of Fountains Abbey, also in Yorkshire, and Corfe Castle in Dorset, which both took second and third place respectively. Carreg Cennen Castle in Carmarthenshire came in fourth place.

Countryfile Magazine asked the UK’s leading conservation and heritage bodies to name their most romantic ruins, and from the resulting list of 50 properties a panel of judges, led by Countryfile presenter John Craven, whittled this down to just 10 sites. Readers were then asked to vote for their favourite.

John Craven commented: “It’s a well-deserved winner. The abbey ruins dominate my favourite coastal town. When I was a boy, my family rented a holiday cottage at the foot of the 199 steps that lead to it and I regularly climbed them just for fun. The view from the top is breath-taking, the setting couldn’t be more romantic, and among the abbey’s legacy is something that still affects us all every year: the ruins mark the spot where in 664 the date for Easter was set.”

Fergus Collins, Editor of Countryfile Magazine, added: “Whitby Abbey fought off a strong challenge from perhaps better-known sites such as Corfe Castle and Fountains Abbey. But if you’ve ever visited this haunting ruin on the Yorkshire coast, you’ll see why it won.”

View the results and read the full article on the Countryfile Magazine website.

Source: BBC Magazines Press Release [link].

Intrigued as to why our countryside has so many evocative historic ruins, Countryfile Magazine and John Craven want to explore why so many of us love to visit the crumbling remains of our past.

As John Craven says: “Is it by the impact they have on the landscape, the legends that surround them and the part they have played in our nation’s story, or is it simply the place they have in our hearts? How tumbledown should they be, how spectacular, how windswept, how threatening, how magical?”

So the Countryfile Magazine team asked the UK’s heritage bodies for their favourite ruins and from this shortlist of 50, a panel including John Craven and Countryfile’s Jules Hudson whittled down the list to just 10.

Now they are asking the public to vote for their favourites. You can find details of the top 10 romantic ruins in the November issue of Countryfile Magazine, on sale now. Or you can visit Countryfile Magazine’s website at www.bbccountryfilemagazine.com.

Voting closes on 26 November 2010 and the winning ruin will be announced in the February issue of Countryfile Magazine.

We hope you enjoy viewing the new and updated information.

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Corfe Castle Chamber of Trade