RIEVAULX ABBEY. 425 



those of the abbey church of Whitby. The most 

 ancient part appears in the transept, particularly in 

 that part which is towards the nave ; where we see 

 two rows of the small Norman windows, with semi- 

 circular arches, and with bands running along the 

 wall, above and below ; which from its general ap- 

 pearance together with the flying buttresses of 

 the aisle, prove the architecture to be comparatively 

 modern. The church, instead of being east and 

 west, approaches more to the direction of north and 

 south ; so that the choir is at the south end, and the 

 aisle which should have been north is on the east. 

 Some have supposed this anomaly to have 

 been produced at the re-building of the church ; 

 but Drake, in his " Evenings in Autumn," thinks 

 it was in consequence of the disposition of the 

 ground. At the altar end of the choir a large 

 flat stone, about nine feet long, has been raised up, 

 which has been the altar, or part of a monument. 

 Adjoining the ruins of the nave on the west are the 

 remains of the cloisters, the square of which is above 

 100 feet each way ; one side of the square cornea 

 close to the nave of the church, with which it must 

 have communicated. On the opposite side stands a 

 splendid building, extending in length toward the 

 west 100 feet, and in breadth 30. This structure 

 appears to have been the refectory, accompanied with 

 a music gallery. Parallel to this, and in a line with the 

 transept, is another extensive ruin, several feet longer 

 than the refectory and about the same breadth, corres- 

 -ponding with the breadth of the transept, to which it 



approaches j this was perhaps the dormitory, as it 

 3H 



