Fountains Abbey: History
• Origins
• Sources
• Foundation
• Consolidation
• Trials and Tribulations
• Strength and Stability
• End of Monastic Life

Fountains Abbey: Buildings
• Precinct
• Church
• Cloister
• Sacristy
• Library
• Chapter House
• Parlour
• Dormitory
• Warming House
• Day Room
• Refectory
• Kitchen
• Lay Brothers' Range
• Abbots House
• Infirmary
• Outer Court
• Gatehouse
• Guesthouse

Fountains Abbey: Lands

Fountains Abbey: People

The monks' choir (continued)

(10/13)

Holy water stoup from Fountains
© Cistercians in Yorkshire Project
<click to enlarge>

The Holy Water Stoup
An interesting survival at Fountains is the bowl of the Holy Water Stoup, which stood at the top of the steps leading from the cloister to the southern aisle of the church. It was carved from crinoidal limestone in the second half of the thirteenth century, and may have been polished. The bowl was taken for a while to Aldfield church, where it was used as a font, but has since been retrieved by English Heritage and is now preserved in the mill at Fountains. A replica of the bowl can now be seen at Aldfield.

During the day the monks entered the church from a door in the cloister, which led to the south side of their choir. The base of the holy water stoop, which stood immediately to the east of this doorway, still remains and its basin is now preserved in the abbey museum. At night, the monks entered the choir via a covered passage that connected their dormitory to a flight of stairs (the ‘nightstairs’), which led to a door in the SW corner of the south transept. The monks’ choir was separated from the eastern part of the church by two steps, which led to the presbytery. This was the liturgical heart of the abbey and the most sacred part of the abbey. Directly behind the monks’ choir, in the west, was the area known as the retrochoir, where those who could not participate in the full monastic day, such as the elderly and sick, celebrated the Office. This formed the last section of the monks’ church. It was screened off from their choir by a partition known as the pulpitum which, in turn, was separated from the lay-brothers’ part of the church by the rood screen. The retrochoir had two chapels, one dedicated to St Bernard, the other to the Virgin Mary, the patron of the Order.