The Kitchen
In the Kitchen, each monk took his turn in preparing the food for his brethren. The present Kitchen (25) is part of the original mid twelfth century building, the tall blank arches and round headed windows of its south wall being typical of the period.
In the centre of this room two great fireplaces stood back to back, but no trace of these is now visible above ground level.
The Meat Kitchen
At first, the diet of the Cistercians was strictly vegetarian. Each monk received a daily allowance of a pound of bread and measure of drink, with two cooked dishes at dinner, to which a third dish of fruit or salad might be added in their seasons. Neither meat nor fish was to be eaten, and lard was not to be used in cooking.
By the fifteenth century, this regime had been considerably relaxed, and it had become the custom to eat meat three times a week, provided that the flesh was cooked in a separate kitchen and eaten in a separate hall called a misericord. For this reason, a Meat Kitchen (21) was built at the end of the frater or refectory, a very convenient position since it was also close to the abbey's riverside fishponds and a round building, now totally destroyed, which probably served as a dove cote. The Kitchen was well equipped for both roasting and baking, with large hearths being incorporated into the north and west walls, the former having circular ovens arranged on each side.
The Malthouse
When the Abbey was first built, the area now occupied by the Malt House (26) formed an entrance passage through the south range of buildings. This led into a long yard running parallel to the lay brothers' dorter, a high stone wall separating it from the monks' cloister to the cast. The great stone archways still survive from this period, but both were walled up in the thirteenth century.
In the late fourteenth century further alterations were made within this room to convert it into a malt house and bakery. Ovens and malt kilns were built into the east and west walls, while the greater part of the south wall was occupied by a huge vat some eleven feet in diameter (27).