York Guides

The western range in a Cistercian monastery was occupied by the Conversi, or lay brothers. In the earlier days of the order these men often outnumbered the monks and provision had to be made for them on a large scale. Though not so extensive as the western range at Fountains, the buildings here run no less than 275 ft southwards from the church, and were of two storeys in height. The ground floor was vaulted in two spans with groined vaults, and was divided up by partitions. The architectural details show that this range is older than any other part of the monastery; so that we may infer that the lay brothers were here in advance of the monks, doubtless for the purpose of superintending the layout of the buildings.

Between this range and the cloister is a passage, known in Cistercian houses as the Lane, which served as the lay brothers' cloister, and has in its east wall 35 recesses, which were used as seats. At the north end is a door to the church, originally intended to open at the cloister level, but altered to suit that of the nave floor. The raking slope or steps leading up to it from the lane not only made several of the seats useless, but blocked the doorway into the western range, and with it the passage-way next the church. The lay brothers' dormitory occupied the upper storey of the western range. This floor was reached by a staircase in the south wall of the church, which provided access to the church from the lay brothers' dorter, and by a second staircase from the south-west angle of the cloister, which may have served as day stairs. The reredorter of the lay brothers, at the south-cast of the dorter-range, was 90 ft long internally, with a central drain, and stood over a ground stage with open arches on its north and south sides. The arrangements of the ground floor of the western range are uncertain---two passages led through it about midway in length, as usual, connecting with the lane and the cloister, and to the northern passage a covered walk led from the outer court. The frater was probably in the four bays immediately south of this, and the south end of the range, in which is a wide original fireplace, may have served as the lay brothers' infirmary.