The Cistercian abbot originally slept in the dormitory with the rest of his community, as stipulated in the twelfth-century customary of the Order. It soon became common for abbots to have their own separate room(s) adjoining or adjacent to the dormitory. In the early thirteenth century an abbot’s house was constructed at Byland, south of the eastern range and infirmary complex. This large, free-standing complex comprised of a hall and a private chamber in the east end. Excavations revealed that a well-house stood to the east of this and may have had a chapel at first-floor level. The hall was entered from its northern side. There was a fireplace in its east wall, which can still be seen; a buttery and pantry were situated to its east and a solar to its west. The east end of the complex is the oldest part of the house and dates to c. 1190. The undercroft was vaulted and the abbot had private chambers on the upper level.(56)
The abbot’s house was one of the few buildings spared at the time of the Dissolution, since it was to be used by a local farmer. However, by the late eighteenth century it was heavily ruined and little now survives.
References
(56) Harrison, Byland Abbey, p. 18.