In 2024 the historic night staircase used by medieval monks at Furness Abbey in Cumbria has been rebuilt by English Heritage. This short film (3 mins 50) takes you on a visit to the staircase. It also introduces a first look at a unique photograph taken on the night stair by photographer Roger Fenton in 1860…. which , of course, will be the next part of the story.
Reconstructed on the site of the original, the new timber structure meets the surviving stone steps and allows visitors to climb to the first-floor level of the monks' dormitory. From here there are previously unseen views of the ruins of what was once the largest and wealthiest monastery in north-west England. In the dead of night, sometime between midnight and 2am, the monks at Furness Abbey would dutifully rise from their beds in the communal dormitory and descend to the church via their night staircase to sing Matins, an early morning service celebrated during the hours of darkness and the first of eight services that punctuated their day.
In the centuries after the dissolution of the monasteries Furness Abbey attracted antiquarians, authors, artists, poets and photographers, amongst the most notable of whom were JMW Turner and William Wordsworth.
As well as the night staircase, Furness Abbey has also received site-wide improvements. To make more areas of the property accessible, there is now better wheelchair access around the ruins, wider and more level paths, new timber and stone ramps and steep sections of the landscape have been levelled.