Kirkstall Abbey - Leeds, West Yorkshire (Leeds City Council)
Kirkstall Abbey was founded in 1152 by the Cistercian monks from Fountains Abbey and was closed down in November 1539 in the Dissolution of religious houses ordered by Henry VIII. The monks were pensioned-off, the roofs stripped of lead and some buildings converted for agricultural use. Many famous artists such as JMW Turner, Thomas Girtin and Moses Griffith came to paint Kirkstall Abbey's picturesque ruins.
Kirkstall Abbey is one of the most important buildings historically in Leeds. Built between 1152 and 1182 on the northern bank of the River Aire, the Abbey was home to a community of Cistercian monks and lay brothers. After its dissolution in 1539 the abbey’s windows, roofs and much of the stonework were steadily removed for use in local building projects and this helps explain its current partially-ruined appearance.
The view along the church's entire 200 foot length is unbroken, with 8 huge columned arches. At services, there was a strict order from back to front. Closest to the west door is the Nave, where lay brothers and lay visitors sat. Closer to the front were aged and infirm monks, then monks and novices in the choir.
The Tower is not the original 12th Century structure, which only attained the same height as the church roof in keeping with the ideals of austerity and simplicity promoted by the founding fathers of the Cisterian monastic order. In 1509- 27 a new tower was built. The north-west side collapsed in 1779.On either side of the tower providing the important crucifix shape to the church. The North Transept doorway gave access to the cemetery after funeral services. A fascinating feature of the South Transept is the `night stairs' used by monks to reach the choir from their dormitory for night vigils.
Stephen Harding, an Englishman, became abbot here in 1109. Within the next decade he drew up the 'Charter of Charity', the constitution which bound together the Cistercian order under the government of a general chapter, or assembly of abbots. In addition, a series of 'customs' were established which ensured that all Cistercian monasteries followed the same interpretation of St. Benedict's rule as practised at Citeaux. By 1120 some twelve Cistercian monasteries had been founded, but by 1152 their number had increased to three hundred and thirty. In Yorkshire the major expansion took place in the 1130s and 1140s, the community which was to found Kirkstall Abbey leaving Fountain Abbey near Ripon in 1147.
Under the leadership of Abbot Alexander, the monks first tried to settle on the lands of Henry de Lacy, Baron of Pontefract, at Barnoldswick, a Pennine village near Skipton. Here both the climate and the local inhabitants proved so inhospitable that a new site had to be found. While passing through Airedale, Alexander came upon a pleasant stretch of country well stocked with timber, stone and water, and inhabited by a group of hermits. As this land was in the ownership of William of Poitou, a vassal of Henry de Lacy, the Abbot Alexander was able to use Henry's influence to gain possession of the site. On May 19th, 1152, the monks transferred from Barnoldswick to Kirkstall, there to build their monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary. At first all the buildings were of wood, but within a few years these were being replaced by massive masonry structures in the local Bramley Fall gritstone. So quickly did the work progress, that the Church, the Cloister and all its surrounding buildings were all completed in the lifetime of Abbot Alexander, who died in 1182.
On November 22nd, 1539, monastic activity at Kirkstall came to an abrupt end when the abbot, John Ripley, surrendered the abbey to the commissioners of Henry VIII. John Browne, the Prior, and thirty other monks were immediately granted pensions, while according to tradition, the abbot passed into retirement in the Gatehouse. In 1542 the Abbey and its lands were granted to Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, but reverted to the Crown in 1556 when he was burnt to death for his religious beliefs. Following a sequence of complicated legal transactions, the abbey was purchased by Sir Robert Savile in 1583-4, and remained in his family until 1671, when it passed by marriage into the hands of the Brudenells, Earls of Cardigan.Having been stripped of its roofs and windows, the abbey served as a quarry for local building works, including the stairs leading to the water's edge at Leeds Bridge. Fortunately all the major buildings survived intact, however, most of them being re-used for agricultural purposes. The Chapter house, Chapels, and novices' room provided housing for a herd of cattle, the lay brothers' building became a barn, the Cloisters were planted as an orchard, and the gatehouse converted into a farmhouse. Grass, trees and ivy then began to engulf the ruins, giving them a particularly rich quality of pastoral and romantic beauty.
Unfortunately no positive action was taken at this time, but from 1799 the Butler family of Kirkstall Forge, as leaseholders of the site, carried out a number of essential repairs and maintained a full time caretaker, who also provided refreshments and boats for hire.
In 1889 the Countess of Cardigan sold the Abbey to Colonel John North, who then presented it to the City of Leeds. The new owners immediately commissioned W. H. St. John Hope, the foremost authority on monastic buildings, to prepare a report on the preservation of the ruins. With J. T. Micklethwaite as architect and J. T. Irvine as clerk of works, the condition of the Abbey began to improve dramatically as ivy, grass and trees were stripped from its roofs and large sections of the walls were buttressed and repaired. On September 14th 1895, the planned works of preservation were completed, and Kirkstall Abbey was formally opened to the public by the Lord Bishop of Ripon and the Lord Mayor of Leeds.
Although the restoration of the 1890s was of the highest quality, it still left much to be completed, some of the masonry never having been re-pointed since the medieval period. In 1980, therefore, the City Council commenced a long term programme of restoration to ensure that Kirkstall Abbey, the finest of all early monastic ruins, should remain intact for the benefit of future generations.