Most of the floor of Kirkstall Abbey is earth, gravel or grass and I was surprised to find these tile fragments in one small cell. The cell (in a row of two or three similar small rooms, though the others had no tiles) had what appeared to be a washing area in the wall, so may have been where the monks washed before meals or prayers. (I may be completely wrong!)
I don't know if the tiles are medieval originals or a later addition - they looked a bit random - but I thought they had a certain charm. So much of Kirkstall's structure has been damaged over the years, though some vaulting and pillars survive.
Those tiles certainly have a medieval "feel" to them. It's always exciting to find something that the guidebooks have overlooked.
ReplyDeletegreat catch...I immediately thought of the craftsman/men who made them, and how decorations weren't necessary to protect wet floors (if that's why they were installed, and I kind of think so) but there they are centuries later, still showing someone wanted beauty underfoot!
ReplyDeleteThey certainly feel very old.
ReplyDeleteThese small cells were chapels along the east walls of the transepts. They would have had separate altars in them dedicated, presumably, to different saints.
ReplyDeleteThe washing areas in each of them would have been for washing hands and preparing the vessels involved in the liturgy. The tiles are fantastic!
The tiles in the refectory were moved there from the abbey church itself. But it's great to see the tiles in the small chapel still there.