Historic churches and other Christian sites in South Wales

  • The remains of Tintern Abbey (Monmouthshire) are some of the best preserved anywhere in Wales, and include substantial parts of the buildings around the cloister
    The remains of Tintern Abbey (Monmouthshire) are some of the best preserved anywhere in Wales, and include substantial parts of the buildings around the cloister.
  • Neath Abbey (Neath Port Talbot) was founded in 1130 by the Savignac order. Most of the surviving buildings date to the 13th century
    Neath Abbey (Neath Port Talbot) was founded in 1130 by the Savignac order, which was absorbed by the Cistercians in 1147. Most of the surviving buildings date to the 13th century. This is part of the west range of the inner precinct, where the lay brothers lived. The photograph is taken from the outer precinct, and shows the projecting inner gatehouse which cut across the west range to give access to the inner precinct.
  • The magnificent chapter house at Margam (Neath Port Talbot), constructed at the beginning of the 13th century, has an unusual hexagonal plan
    One of the most important buildings in any monastery was the chapter house, where the monastic community assembled every morning to hear a chapter read from their monastic rule, assign tasks for the day and deal with any disciplinary matters. The magnificent chapter house at Margam (Neath Port Talbot), constructed at the beginning of the 13th century, has an unusual hexagonal plan. A central column originally supported a central roof, which collapsed in 1799. The ruins of the south transept can be seen in the background; the structure with the towers is an early 19th century wall built to close off the ruined east end of the church.
  • Extensive remains survive of Monknash Grange (Vale of Glamorgan) which belonged to Neath Abbey
    Extensive remains survive of Monknash Grange (Vale of Glamorgan) which belonged to Neath Abbey. High walls surround a series of farm buildings, including this circular dovecote.
  • The only building to survive of Trellech Grange (Monmouthshire) is the church, a simple single-celled building where the lay brothers would have worshipped
    The only building to survive of Trellech Grange (Monmouthshire) is the church, a simple single-celled building where the lay brothers would have worshipped. This grange belonged to Tintern Abbey.
  • The remains of the outer gatehouse of Llanthony Priory (Monmouthshire). This monastery, established at the turn of the 12th century, was initially successful but after the death of Henry I who has been a great supporter
    The remains of the outer gatehouse of Llanthony Priory (Monmouthshire). This monastery, established at the turn of the 12th century, was initially successful but after the death of Henry I who has been a great supporter, a Welsh uprising caused the majority of the canons to flee and set up a second house in Gloucestershire, which became known as Lanthony Secunda. However, a small community did survive on the original site, Llanthony Prima. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the gatehouse was modified for use as a barn."

Building for the Monastic Life

The first Norman lord of Abergavenny, Hamelin de Ballon, granted land by 1100 to the abbey of St Vincent at Le Mans in France for them to construct monastery in Abergavenny. It was the first Norman monastery to appear in South Wales, and the pattern of its foundation was to be followed by other: the grant of lands by an incoming lord in the first half of the 12th century to a monastic house of his choice in England or France. This house would then establish a presence on site by sending out a party of monks to establish a monastic cell, which would still remained dependent on its mother house. Other monks might then follow and enlarge this community into a self-governing conventual monastery, as happened at Abergavenny, Chepstow, Ewenny, Goldcliff and Monmouth. All these monasteries belonged to the Benedictine order.

By the second half of the 12th century, the newly formed Cistercian order proved much more attractive to the founders of monasteries. This movement was an attempt to return monasticism to its original values, with an emphasis on the monks living in isolated areas where they would not be distracted by worldly affairs and would support themselves by their own work. Extensive medieval remains are still visible of the Cistercian monasteries at Neath, Margam and Tintern, but others at Llantarnam and Grace Dieu (Monmouthshire) have completely disappeared. Almost completely gone are the remains of the friaries, founded in Cardiff in the 13th century for the Dominican and Austin Friars, and in Newport for the Austin friars in 1377. Unlike monasteries, friar preached and worked among ordinary people, like the Augustinian canons at Llanthony priory.

At the heart of any monastery was the church, with the cloister built along one side, usually the south. Administration and living accommodation was arranged around the cloister; an infirmary for sick monks usually stood behind where it was less busy. All these buildings formed the inner precinct, which could only be entered through a gatehouse. Beyond was the large outer precinct, which contained all the service buildings needed by a self-sufficient medieval community, including storage for agricultural produce. Entry to this precinct from the outside world was through the outer gatehouse.

Cistercian monasteries contained parallel communities of choir monks and lay brothers who slept and ate separately, but worshipped together in the church. Whilst life of the choir monks was to become based around what we normally visualise as happening in a monastery – a round of church services, private prayer and study – the life of the lay brothers was always focussed on manual labour, particularly agriculture. In order to farm their lands more effectively, Cistercian houses established networks of monastic granges with all the necessary agricultural buildings such as barns and dovecotes, where the lay brothers could live on site. They can be considered as the ´model farms´ of their day. Granges also had their own small chapels.