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Surviving fabric and excavations (3/3) Kirkstall is the most complete set of Cistercian ruins in the country, and survived the wholesale plunder experienced by other abbeys, perhaps, as the stone was of less interest to the locals than was use of the buildings as barns. Some of the buildings collapsed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the result of neglect and decay, but as the ruined abbey was one of the most painted at this time, we now have a record of how the site looked before these losses. There have also been extensive excavations of the site, primarily in the 1950s and 1980s. This work has not only contributed to our understanding of the design of the precinct and the buildings therein, such as the guest-house and corn-mill, but uncovered interesting artefacts including pottery, tools, tiles and a chess-piece (see below.) A number of Kirkstall’s seals survive.
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