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The abbey site and lands
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Kirkstall is the most complete set of Cistercian
ruins in Britain. Following the surrender of the abbey, the buildings
were stripped of lead, which was greatly valued, and the furnishings
and roof timber were ripped out. Lead roofing, gutters and water
pipes were removed and melted down; a furnace was uncovered several
centimetres below the ground, just within the west doorway, where
the lead was melted into fodders.(15)
The abbey otherwise escaped relatively unscathed and did not suffer
the wholesale destruction and plunder that occurred elsewhere, as,
for instance, at Roche.
Most of the buildings were left standing and used for agricultural
purposes; an orchard was planted in the cloister. The gatehouse,
which now houses the abbey museum, was converted into a farmhouse
and many of the other buildings were used as barns; the east side
of the chapter-house was probably knocked down by farmers to allow
their cattle to enter.
Whilst there was no great plundering of the abbey
stone at the time of the dissolution, this gradually disappeared
over the years and was used for building and repair work, and the
steps leading to Leeds Bridge are said to have been made from stone
taken from the abbey the 1583 accounts of the churchwardens
of Leeds show that labourers were paid sixpence a day to remove
material from the abbey for repairs to the bridge at Leeds; this
was probably taken from the infirmary.(16)
Although most of the buildings survived the Dissolution, weathering,
neglect and the growth of vegetation took their toll. The western
range fell in 1746, severe storms in January 1779 caused the partial
collapse of the abbey tower and in 1886 snow melting through the
floor of the monks dormitory led to the loss of the southern
part of this building. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
the main thoroughfare to Leeds was directed through the nave of
the church, which necessitated the destruction of the east window;
the base of this window that can now be seen is the work of Victorian
restoration. In 1827 the road was redirected; the A65 Kirkstall
Road still bisects the site.
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