Dr. Fairbank read (by request) a paper on “Roche Abbey & the Cistercian Order.”

The Cistercian order arose in the 11th century through a desire to reform abuses in the great Benedictine Order. In the year 1098 Robert, abbot of Molesme founded the monastery of Citeaux or Cistercian in order to restore the ancient discipline. In about a year he returned to Molesme abberic & the Prior of the new house was made abbot,  to him in 1109 succeeded Stephen Harding an Englishman & under his rule the order grew into one of great power.

Simplicity in life, religion & dress was especially aimed at. Labour was a distinctive feature of the order & in this the monks were helped by a subordinate class of lay-brethren called conversi. A prominent feature of the Cistercian Order was the filial dependence of the various houses on those from which they had sprung. Citeaux was the common ancestor & its Abbot had the right of visiting ant monastery of the order that he pleased & wherever he went the Abbot gave up his place to him. Each Abbot also went each year to inspect the abbeys which had sprung from his own house. The progress of the order was very rapid, within 50 years of its foundation it numbered 500 abbeys & during the next half century 1800 in course of time these increased to 10,000.

The order was introduced into England in 1128 by the foundation of the Abbey of Waverley in Surrey & it quickly extended over the whole land. The first house of the order in Yorkshire was Fountains Abbey. This beautiful structure was founded in 1132 by a colony from the Benedictine abbey of St. Mary of York. The abbey of Newminster spung from this & from Newminster originated three other monasteries of which Roche , built about the middle of the 12th century, was one.

The monasteries of this order were most of them built at the time when architectural style was passing from the Norman or Romanesque to the pointed Gothic. They are therefore of extreme interest in demonstrating the various steps by which this changed was brought about, & in no other buildings is this so well shown.

The situation of Roche Abbey is so extremely beautiful that visitors are attracted to it in great numbers. During the past two years extensive excavations have been made with the view of laying open the whole plan of the monastery. The portions previously visible were a small fragment of the church & the gate-house some distance away. This portion of the church was the east side of the transepts with a space between which was the choir & was until recently all that was known as Roche Abbey. The ruins extended quite across the narrow valley resembling in this respect & in their general plan the arrangement of Cistercian Abbeys in general. At Roche the church was the chief building. It was cruciform, 210 feet long & 99 feet across the transepts. It had a central tower & a long nave of 8 bays.

The monastery included the Sacristy, Chapter House, Parlour or Locutorium, a Day-room, Dormitory, Scriptorium, Kitchen & Buttery, all enclosing the cloisters, the latter being covered with a roof over each of its four walks. The whole of these with other necessary buildings & offices were surrounded by a wall with an entrance through a gatehouse where the porter lived & kept strict guard over all who entered & left the place.

The lecturer gave a detailed account of the excavations & of the interesting discoveries made by means of them & also described at considerable length the chief architectural features of the ruins, illustrating this portion of the lecture by means of a beautiful series of slides prepared from original photographs & shown by a oxy-hydrogen Lantern. At the conclusion several specimens of Stained Glass, carved stone & other remains from the ruins were exhibited & much admired.