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Who came?
(3/3)
In 1311 the abbot of Kirkstall was amongst
those summoned by the archbishop of York to suppress the Knights
Templar.
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Little is known about the identity of those who
visited Kirkstall or indeed the number of guests who received hospitality
at the house. There are no official records, but simply sporadic
references which generally relate to exceptional visitors or occasions,
such as visits by the archbishops of York;(7)
the probable visit of Lord John Beaumont of Hainault and his men
(between 500-2000 men) during Edward IIIs reign (1327-77);(8)
the Templar who stayed for a short time at the abbey in the fourteenth
century - before he escaped.
We can, however, assume that Kirkstalls
guesthouse was never too quiet. The abbeys location on the
major route linking two important administrative centres, Pontefract
and Clitheroe, may have meant that lords who were visiting their
estates stopped off at the abbey with their retainers.(9)
There also would have been visits from family, friends, patrons,
merchants, secular and ecclesiastical officials.
Women would not have been received as guests,
and were forbidden even to enter the church until 1401, when the
abbot of Kirkstall received special permission from the pope allowing
them to enter his church on those days when access was given to
men.
Finds
recovered during the excavations shed some light on daily life
in the guesthouse during its three hundred
years
of occupation. A chess piece, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
and a stone with a game scratched on it suggest how some visitors
may have amused themselves whilst staying here.
Pieces of pottery provide some indication of changes in cooking
methods over time.(10) Other finds
include belt and purse buckles, pins, harness rings and brooches
(see left).
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