| Summary : The surviving remains of the cloister of Cleeve Abbey. The cloister, at the centre of the of the abbey buildings, has a grassed rectangle at its centre. There are traces of the north, east and south alleys of the cloister below ground. The cloister was roofed over where it abutted the other abbey buildings to provide a sheltered walkway. The remains of the roof of this walkway can be recognised on the walls of the ranges around the cloister garth. Both the 13th century roofing and the 15th century rebuilding can be seen. The main survival from the 13th century cloister is the shallow recess with trefoiled head and coved back, set midway along the south face of the wall of the south aisle of the nave. In the Cistercian order it was customary for the Collation to be held in the alley of the cloister next to the church, and this recess was intended as an architectural frame for the chair of the abbot, who presided the ceremony. The greater part of the lower storey of the west cloister alley remains intact, apart from the southern part which was obscured during later rebuilding. |