Byland Abbey: History
• Sources
• Foundation
• Consolidation
• Later Middle Ages
• Dissolution

Byland Abbey: Buildings
• Precinct
• Church
• Cloister
• Sacristy
• Library
• Chapter House
• Parlour
• Dormitory
• Warming House
• Day Room
• Refectory
• Kitchen
• Lay Brothers' Range

The lay-brothers' choir

View from the lay-brothers' choir at Byland
© Cistercians in Yorkshire Project
<click to enlarge>

The lay-brothers' choir occupied the six western bays of the nave. It was the last part of the church to be built, and was not completed until after the community had relocated here in 1177. The lay-brothers’ choir was separated from the monks’ half of the church by a partition known as the rood screen, which bore an image of the Crucified Christ. The lay-brothers, like the monks, had two entrances to the church, one which provided access during the day, the other for the night office of Vigils. Whenever the lay-brothers celebrated their Hours in the church, they would have occupied inward-facing wooden choir stalls, similar to those used by the monks. At the Mass and the Hours, the seniormost lay-brother sat nearest the altar, but this order was reversed when the brethren assembled in the church after dinner for grace. Although the two choirs were divided by the rood screen, a central door in this partition would have allowed for some contact between the two communities. Still, they essentially remained apart and whilst the lay-brothers would have heard the monks chanting, they would have seen little of what went on in the eastern part of the church. The monks, in contrast, would not – or should not – have seen or heard the lay-brothers, who celebrated the Hours in silence, so as not to disturb the monks.

With the demise of the lay-brothers in the mid-thirteenth century, their choir stalls were removed and this area of the church was restructured to provide space for processions and side chantries. Here, ordained members of the community could say private masses and offer prayers for benefactors.