Night Stairs

Night Stairs. Kirkstall Abbey. You are standing in the south transept. In front of you is the site of the night stairs, down which the choir monks came from their dormitory to attend the first service of the day - at one o'clock in the morning!, The Medieval night stairs were removed some time after the closure of the Abbey. Work during the conservation project at Kirkstall Abbey showed that the arrangement of the night stairs was similar to that at some French Cistercian abbeys. Beneath the night stairs was a space leading to the bottom of a spiral staircase., The spiral staircase is hidden within the wall in the corner of the south transept. It leads up to the balcony above, which gives access to the chapel roofs. The small doorway near the chapel leads into the vestry where the monks put on their priests' robes., "We monks come down the night stairs from our dormitory at 1 o'clock in the morning for the first service here in the church! We are called back here for six more services during the day. No wonder we can't go for away from the Abbey like the laybrothers!"