Thursday

A Short Visit To Kirkstall Abbey .


Brief history and photo





Picture and below text from Wikepedia


Kirkstall Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in the western outskirts of Leeds in Yorkshire, set in grounds which are now a public park on the north bank of the River Aire. It was founded c.1152 and was over seventy five years in construction. It was closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under the auspices of Henry VIII. The ruins have been painted by artists such as J.M.W. Turner. On 22 November 1539 the abbey was surrendered to Henry VIII's commissioners in the Dissolution of the monasteries. In 1671 it passed into the hands of the Brudenell family, Earls of Cardigan. Much of the stone was removed for re-use in other buildings in the area, including the steps leading to Leeds Bridge.

During the 18th century the picturesque ruins attracted artists of the Romantic movement and were painted by artists including Turner. In 1889 the abbey was sold to Colonel John North, who presented it to Leeds City Council. The Council undertook a major restoration project and the abbey was opened to the public in 1895.



This is where we visited on sunday .
A day when i got up , and thought , i need to get
out somewhere . So off we went for a drive , no
particular place in mind and passed this Abbey.
Although i live near , i had never been to see it .
So i had to stop , and take a look , and these
are my views in photographs .



The walk down from the main road





A caged off entrance to the right hand side of the Abbey .





A photo from 1890 inside ( wikepedia )




And mine





Looking up slightly




And the entrance which i just walked through





On the sides of the building , these were dotted about .
Arches with a shelf , and an indentation of a circle .
On the right handside - maybe to put a candle ??





View down the arches , which are on both sides





A walk through a stone archway , brings you to
the courtyard










Inside one of the " rooms " looking
out onto the courtyard






below one a better inside photograph
c/o Wikepedia
My flash was not that good !









Then we walked around the Abbey , where restoration
was taking place , and trying to get a shot
without the building site look !






The back of the abbey , where the giant window is .
We guessed at it`s size - 40 foot wide by 90 foot high .
Wouldn`t this be more magnificant , if it still had
stained glass inside ?





We only spent an hour there , but it
was well worth taking a look .
I always go around places like these , and
often wonder and wish . If i could just go back
in time , for a moment , and see them how
they were originally , in all their glory .
Then i would have my own photograph
of it , in my mind , to remember it .



I hope you enjoyed a little tour of Kirkstall
Abbey , through my eyes ......
If anyone would like one of my photos .
I will gladly email it to you - just let me know !!

5 comments:

Sherry said...

Lovely photographs Carolyn. It's always amazing what you can find when you go without "direction". Sometimes stepping off the beaten path takes us to pleasures we had no idea existed or that we needed to see.

I love how the light slants in through some of these photographs. And you can almost "feel" the history in those walls!

Amy A said...

I love the tour! Fabulous history! TFS and yes I'm still around, just not much going on right now :)

*~tabby~* crooked heart art said...

hi carolyn
that abbey is magnificent!!
thanks for sharing its beauty and history-i too can only wonder what it looked like in all its splendor-
i could spend hours there
have a great day
tammy

Cindy said...

Good gracious, that is gorgeous! Thank you for the tour! : )

c

Rhondamum said...

Wow! What a beautiful walk you had! Thank you for sharing. I won't say, again, how you need to publish a book. Oops, guess I did!

I really like the picture where you did the comparison. I wish we had history like that here.

One day, when I do get to visit you, I expect you to take me to this lovely place. We'll get a picture of us there together!

R...