File:The ruined abbeys of Yorkshire (1883) (14756204076).jpg

Identifier: ruinedabbeysofyo00lefr_0 (find matches)
Title: The ruined abbeys of Yorkshire
Year: 1883 (1880s)
Authors: Lefroy, William, 1836-1900
Subjects: Abbeys
Publisher: London, Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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but in thetrains which shriek and roar on both sides of theriver no traveller needs to ask his way, or draw fromold inhabitants the fading traditions of the place. Kirkstall. 35 We long, in vain, to be left alone with the ruin, ifonly for a silent half-hour, and we picture to our-selves how at night, when commerce sleeps and thepulse of industry beats feebly, the past must assertitself once more, and Kirkstall be as real as Leeds.Externally the Abbey is a singularly pure andperfect specimen of genuine Cistercian, and also ofearly transitional architecture. The round arch pre- navc and transepts ; but there is little beside the eastwindows of the choir and chapels that may not wellhave been the work of Abbot Alexander. In thesecond bay of the nave—both north and south—arc-late and somewhat elaborate windows inserted, doubt-less, for the purpose of throwing additional light uponthe altars placed against the pulpitum, the positionof which they thus serve to mark ; and here at KLirk-
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Kl RKSTALL ABBEY. WESTERN FACADE OF THE CHURCH. vails throughout except where, as in the east window,later work has been substituted ; the small aislelesschoir projects but little beyond the divided chapelsof the transepts ; and the very ruins of the tooambitious tower, which fell a hundred years ago,proclaim that the foundations of the massive centralpillars were never intended for so proud a burden.Neither western porch nor eastern chapel disguise thesimple proportions of the original Latin cross, andthe lanterns and turrets are the only additions whichpractically diminish the severity of the outline. Onentering we find, of course, pointed arches in the stall, as in so many other churches, the roof hasobviously been lowered, partly for economy of lead,and partly for the not unusual reason that when theends of the rafters became rotten there was stillenough sound wood for a lower pitch. The beautiful and remarkable western facade andthe north-west doorway are the remaining features o

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