"A remarkable deformity in this edifice, and for which there is no apparent reason or necessity, is that the north door, which is the principal entrance, is on one side of the window above it. The tower has been supported by four magnificent arches, of which only one remains entire. They rested upon four tall pillars, whereof three are finely clustered, but the fourth is of a plain unmeaning construction. The west end of the church seems to have been an additional part intended for a belfry to ease the main tower, but that is as plain as the east. The east end of the church contained five altars besides the high altar, as appears by the chapels, and probably there was a private altar in the sacristy. "In magnitude this abbey was second in England belonging to the Cistercian monks, and the next in opulence after Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. The church and cloisters were encompassed with a wall, which commenced at the east side of the great northern door and formed the straight enclosure; and a space of ground to the amount of 65 acres was surrounded with a strong stone wall, which enclosed the mills, kilns, ovens and fish-ponds. The inside length of the church from east to west is 275 feet 8 inches; the thickness of the east end wall and the depth of the east end buttress is 8 feet 7 inches; the thickness of the west end wall 9 feet 7 inches; the extreme length of the church is 304 feet 6 inches; the inside width of the east end is 28 feet, and the thickness of the two side walls 10 feet. The inside width of the cloister is 31 feet 6 inches; the area of the quadrangular court is 338 feet 6 inches by 102 feet 6 inches." Since this description was written many researches have been made, and much light thrown on various points of interest. The church is ascribed to the time when John de Cauncefeld was Abbot--_i.e._, about A.D. 1160. Of the parts of the church still remaining in fair preservation, the most conspicuous are the transepts, which are 126 feet long, by 28 feet wide. At the north end of the transepts is a Transitional doorway which is rich in its ornamentation and mouldings; above it is a magnificent window, probably inserted in the fifteenth century. Various monuments have been discovered, one of which is probably the effigy of William de Lancaster, the eighth Baron of Kendal, whose Inquisition is dated 31 Henry III. (1246-47).