Birthday Trip, Part Two

After Escombe I drove to North Yorkshire to go to Mount Grace Priory.  Mount Grace was a Carthusian monastery founded in 1386. The Carthusian order of monks were possibly the most austere in western Europe. Where other orders of monks lived communal lives, coming together for prayer, work, meals, and services, Carthusian monks were very solitary.  Each monk was given a cell, n reality a small house, to live in. This included (at Mt Grace) an entry chamber, work room, bedroom, and a large attic space to carry out more work, like weaving.  They also had a small covered walk so they could keep (relatively) warm in the winter while looking at at their individual gardens.  They also had their own private out houses and gardens.

Because their lives were so focused on their individual cells the other parts of the monastery are relatively more humble.  They prayed the daily prayers alone in their cells, except for certain times in the day and on Sundays. They were silent, and ate a pescatarian diet.

The priory from the south. The church is obvious, the rest of the ruins are mostly the houses used by the lay brothers (men who did not take orders as monks, but lived by the same rules of the monastery, but who conducted the day to day management of the site), as well as guest accommodation.

Behind the church in the above picture is a wall; this is what is behind the wall, the cloister.  In traditional monasteries you'd have various rooms off of this covered, square walkway: dormitory, chapter house, refectory, et cetera.  In Carthusian monasteries, the quadrangle was formed by the small houses of each monk.  This is why the cloister is so large, as it needs to accommodate main houses fronts.

The former monk's cells are now ruins, except for one that was rebuilt in the early 1900s by the then owner of the property as a way to show his guest what the cells were like (it is the one in the centre of the photo). But first, here are some shots of the ruined cells.

The wall on the right leads into the cloister. You can see the different footprints of the cells, as well as the wall that made the back wall of their gardens.

Most of the cells looked a bit like this one in terms of their layout in relation to the garden: a cell in the corner of the plot, so that the garden is vaguely L shaped.

The same cell, seen form the opposite corner (inside what would have been the cell). The door in the back wall leads to the outhouse that was situated over a small stream.

The doorway from the cloister into the cell. The hatch on the right was used to pass meals to the monks. The door did not lead directly into the cell, instead it lead to a hallway that lead into the cell and the garden.

Here is the recreated cell.  This cell is unusual as its position meant it could accommodate a larger garden than most of the other cells.  For this reason it is slightly more luxurious than the other cells would have been, with a covered walkway complete with glazed windows, and a large open sided walkway on the other side of the garden.  An interesting note to make is that because each cell was a small house it was not uncommon for wealthy patrons to pay for one to be built, and for their crest/heraldic symbols to be placed above the door into the cell.

When you enter the door and turned left you can see the glazed walkway (really it's more of a room). Had you turned right you would go through a door leading to the garden walkway.

The covered, glazed walkway.

The covered walkway into the garden. At the end is the outhouse.  

Ye olde recreated monk's toilet.

This is what remains of the stream that washed under the outhouses.

The garden seen from the corner.  The bit on the right is the covered, glazed walkway. The monks used the garden fro work, as well as to grow plants for food, medicine and dyes/paints.

This is the main living space, you enter it through the doorway to the left of the picture (you can't see it). The first door on the left goes into the bedroom, the second one goes into a work room.

The workroom. The better light in this room means it was likely used for work as opposed to sleep or prayer.

The bedroom. The large chest on the right is actually an altar/prayer table the monks used for their multiple daily prayers.

The attic.  For monks doing work that involved large equipment, like weaving and spinning, the attic would have been a good work space.

The entryway. Here you can see the hallway built between the exterior wall and the cell.

Here's a model showing how the other cells may have been laid out.

There is a large part of the former monastery (I think it is the old guest house) that was used as a private home from the 17th century up until the early 20th century.  Georgina Bell, a desert explorer and the woman who helped create the independent states of the middle east, was born in this house.  

I had a really great time out this birthday!  Already planning next year's historical birthday trip (assuming I can get the day off).