The Thoresby Society

Now there was in those days in Yorkshire a man who owned a great deal of land .. called Henry de Lacy; it happened that he fell ill for many days. His illness made him think that he had angered God and so he made a promise that he would build an abbey of the Cistercian Order in honour of the glorious Virgin and Mother of God, Mary. When he got well he did not forget his vow, and imediately summoned the Abbot of Fountains, told him his plans, and handed over to him land in a certain village called Barnoldswick so that an abbey could be built on it; this was confirmed by a charter ...

The abbot accepted the gift ... and sending brethren constructed humble buildings according to the usual plan of the order, and called the new place 'the Mount of St Mary.' So the usual arrangements having been followed, in the year of Our Lord 1,147, the lord Alexander, a respected man, was ordained abbot ... They were bothered by two things for it was wartime and robbers would often carry off their possessions, and continual rain nearly the whole year flooded their crops. For six years and more they stayed ... The abbot could see that the site of their settlement was not suitable for the building of a monastery ... Once while acting again on the business of the monastery, he happened to pass through a valley, then wooded and shady [the name of the valley was Airedale, that is the valley of the river called Aire] ... The abbot began to think carefully about the site of the place and its conditions, the pleasant nature of the valley and the river flowing past, and the woods adjacent as being suitable for the erection of workshops. It seemed to him that the place was pleasant enough, and suitable for the building of an abbey on it ...

In the year of Our Lord's incarnation 1152, King Stephen reigning over England ... on May 19th ... the monks came from their first settlement to the place which is now called Kirkstall; a place covered with woods and uncultivated, a place almost destitute of good things except timber and stone and a pleasant valley with the water of a river which flowed down the centre ...

So taking the axe in hand they felled the woods and broke up the fallow ground ... And throughout Henry de Lacy founder of the monastery stood by him, now providing the fruits of the harvest, now providing money .. He helped provide the buildings, laid with his own hand the foundation of the church and completed the whole building at his own expense ... In those days the buildings of Kirkstall were erected from stone and wood which were brought there, that is the church, and the dormitories of the monks and lay brethren, and the refectory, the cloister and the chapter and other necessary buildings within the abbey and all these were covered with tiles ...

[Alexander] ruled the abbey for 35 years, a true abbot in deed and name, and living to a good old age, and old man and full of years, he was gathered to his fathers.



The drawing of Kirkstall Abbey as it probably looked in 1230 was made by Dr. David Thornton

The Thoresby Society has one publication about Kirkstall Abbey still in print. Please visit the Publications page to view it.