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Fountains Abbey: History
Fountains Abbey: Buildings
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Visitors to Fountains (13/13)
The General Chapter discouraged lay visitors to Cistercian abbeys and forbade their attendance at the Canonical Hours, Mass and Communion. Nevertheless, it was officially recognised that on great occasions such as Palm Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Easter and the Purification of Mary (2 February), guests might be present. There were initially strict rulings against the admittance of women, but by the mid-twelfth century external pressure forced the General Chapter to compromise and it was conceded that all women, except those who were breastfeeding, might enter the church on the day of its dedication or within the octave. [Read more on the reception of women] It is not clear where in the church visitors
were seated when they attended services. They may have occupied
the area of
the nave
that lay to the west of the lay-brothers’ choir
and was the furthest point from the High
Altar. Alternatively, they may have
been directed to the porch that extended west of the church, which
is known as the galilee or narthex. This was probably built during
Robert of Pipewell’s
abbacy in the late twelfth century.(24) Part
of the arcading in the galilee was reconstructed in the mid-nineteenth
century. The galilee was a popular place for lay burial and William
de Stuteville and Matilda, countess of Cambridge, were amongst
those buried in the galilee at Fountains.(25) |
