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Thomas Gent visited the abbey ruins in 1731 and saw the remains of the High Altar at the east end of the church. The locals from Bramley explained to him how the altar had been destroyed by three Bramley men, two of whom were brothers. On one occasion when the men entered the abbey they were irritated for some reason that the altar stood in their way and attempted to move it; in doing so they broke the altar, leaving remains of the stone in the east end of the church. The offenders soon had their comeuppance and the two brothers were drowned shortly thereafter when crossing the river; an elderly localman, Richard Bramley, who was a keen fisherman described how for almost three weeks he had looked for the bodies as far as Leeds when they finally surfaced ‘over against that part of the church where the altar stone was laid’; Gent explains that the third offender came ‘to no untimely end’ and concludes, ‘Let the world judge of this, for vengeance will pursue those who defile the places where God has been worshipped’.

[This is recounted in History, Description and Guide to Kirkstall Abbey (near Leeds) (London) pp. 24-5.]

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