PLANS have been submitted for a £100,000 repair project at one of North Yorkshire's most famous landmarks - Fountains Abbey.

The work will concentrate on Studley Royal, the estate's 18th century water garden, which features a series of landscaped waterfalls.

Urgent repairs need to be made to the Drum Waterfall which is leaking, the upper canal walls, and protective waterbed "skirts" where the water cascades into the canal.

The estate, which was taken over by the National Trust in 1983, is one of the county's most popular tourist attractions with a number of open gala concerts each year.

Half of the project cost will be funded by landfill tax, but the remainder will have to be raised by the estate.

"This will be the first time repairs have been done to the waterfalls since the 18th century," said the head gardener, Michael Ridsdale.

"As we don't have all the money, the work will have to be done in phases. It's a never-ending job."

The famous estate was once owned by the Viner family who sold it in 1966. Once 18,000 acres, it was reduced in size under the management of the West Riding before being taken over by North Yorkshire County Council in 1974.

"When we took it over we had to raise £4 million," said Mr Ridsdale.

"We raised £1.2 million ourselves. What we need is someone to leave us a legacy which could go towards an endowment. Unfortunately that simply doesn't happen very often these days."

Updated: 10:05 Saturday, January 04, 2003