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The church
(2/8)
The church at Kirkstall was built in the English
Romanesque tradition that is reflected in the construction of rib
vaults, the variety in design of the crossing arches and piers
and the use of motifs such as scalloped capitals.(1)
It was one of the last Cistercian churches to be built in the late
Romanesque style, characterised by the simplicity of its architecture
and lack of ornamentation. The stone used for Kirkstalls church
is Bramley Fall Stone, a coarse-grain stone that is hardy and weather-resistant.
As the model shows, the exterior of the building would have been
coated in a thick limewash with mock masonry lines traced in black
over the white walls. Those visiting the church would have been
struck by the starkness of the interior décor with its white
walls and lack of adornment. As the Cistercians rejected superfluity
and unnecessary expense, artificial lighting was kept to a minimum;
natural lighting was, however, exploited and during the day the
church would have been quite brightly lit. Coloured glass was prohibited
by the General Chapter
and, at least in the early days, the monks would have either used
a clear or grisaille glass, which had a greenish tint; excavations
at Kirkstall have revealed that here, as elsewhere, coloured glass
was later introduced. By the thirteenth century the floor was tiled
(remains of this can be seen in the south transept) but it may have
been previously cobbled, slabbed or simply beaten bare earth, covered
with earth and rushes.
A Cistercian church was characterised by its layout, which represented
and reinforced distinctions within the monastery. The church at
Kirkstall was cruciform in shape, with a square-ended presbytery
and an aisled nave that extended about two hundred metres and was
divided into eight bays. Transept chapels were located in the side
arms there were three in the north transept and three in
the south transept. A defining feature of the Cistercian Order was
its incorporation of two communities the monks and the lay-brothers
- whose respective choirs were divided by a large partition, the
rood screen. The monks occupied the eastern half of the church,
the lay-brothers the western half, and within these two spheres
sub-divisions distinguished the sick from the well, participants
from servers, members of the community from outsiders.
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