The Refectory

The Refectory. Kirkstall Abbey. The Cistercian monks ate their meals in the dining room or refectory. At first the dining room was no bigger than the present lawn. In the 1180s the refectory was extended by building out from the south range., The monks ate boiled vegetables and wholemeal bread, and drank water, wine or ale. A monk standing in the pulpitum high on the west wall read passages from the Bible to the other monks whilst they ate in silence., Monks who finished first were encouraged to make crosses out of breadcrumbs on the table, to stop their minds from wandering during the reading!, During the later Middle Ages the monks began to eat meat regularly. The meat had to be cooked in a separate kitchen and eaten in a separate dining room. The meat kitchen is near the south end of the refectory and the diving room was created by inserting a first floor in the refectory building. Floor tiles were taken from the church and re-laid in the refectory., (Top:) Reconstruction of monks in the refectory. Monks had one meal a day in winter, and two in summer., (Above:) The monks recycled pieces of stone from the cloister when the refectory was changed during the later Middle Ages. Can you spot the re-used stone in the refectory?, (Left:) Artist's reconstruction showing what the dining room may have looked in the later Middle Ages, complete with colourful floor tiles.