A defining feature of the Cistercian Order was its incorporation of two communities: the monks and the lay-brothers. A large partition, the rood screen, divided the church and separated these two independent groups: the monks occupied the eastern half closest to the presbytery, the lay-brothers the western half; each had its own choir. Further distinctions according to status and function were marked by sub-divisions that distinguished the sick from the well, participants from servers, members of the community from outsiders. Although the lay-brothers and choir monks functioned as independent groups and the two choirs were separated, they were linked as part of the wider community and physically connected by a door in the rood screen. On certain occasions, for instance, at the close of a funeral, the lay-brothers might enter the monks’ retrochoir; they may even have entered the presbytery at the Blessing of the Water on Sundays. Divisions were, therefore, not absolute, but in general the two communities remained separate and, at least visually, unaware of the other’s presence. The lay-brothers could hear the monks singing Mass and the Hours, but were not themselves heard, since they were required to celebrate their devotions in silence. The interior of the church was strikingly bare. The walls were plastered white with mock masonry lines drawn in buff or black, and later red. Traces of this have been found at Roche. The Cistercians restricted artificial lighting and regulated against the excessive use of lamps and candles. Natural light was, however, exploited and the windows at Roche, especially those in the transepts, would have provided considerable brightness during the day. Coloured glass was prohibited and at least in the early days clear or grisaille glass was used. The presbytery was separated from the monks’ choir was the centre of liturgical ritual, and the celebrants presided here during Mass. Most of the ruins of the presbytery have the remains of a stone seat, the sedilia, and one or more niche for the sacred vessels, piscina , and where cruets of wine and water were placed before their consecration and when not in use during the Mass. The High Altar, the apex of the Church, was raised and visible to those in the monks’ choir, but would not have been seen by others. Monks who were priests celebrated private masses at side altars.

The Cistercians did not enforce the daily celebration of private masses but this became increasingly common, especially with the growing number of donors requesting foundation masses. Whenever the lay-brothers celebrated the Canonical Hours or Mass in the church, or attended ceremonial occasions, they occupied their own choir in the west of the nave. Like the monks, they had inward-facing stalls, and at their height about one hundred lay-brothers were accommodated here. At Mass and the Hours the seniors occupied the upper stalls, namely those nearest the High Altar, but this order was reversed for the grace after dinner.

The demise of the lay-brothers in the fourteenth century, and the increasing pressure from laity requesting burial in the church, led to the removal of their stalls to make room for lay burials in the nave. A number of these tombs were recovered in the excavations of 1884-1914. Burial within the abbey precinct was officially restricted in the twelfth century, and reserved for prelates and founders, as well as guests and familiars who died during their stay. However, from 1217 the General Chapter sanctioned what was, by then, commonplace – and potentially lucrative.