Whilst at least parts of many monasteries and the one nunnery in Glamorgan and Gwent have been either Scheduled or Listed for many years, it was clear that there were some structures associated with them that had no legal protection. This project was set up to look for surviving structures that might have been overlooked at monastic sites and hospitals. Some of these sites proved to have surviving earthworks, or piles of fragments of architectural carving. Even where no surviving remains could be identified, we were often able to identify archaeologically sensitive areas from documents.
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In 2011, The Friends of Margam Park approached the Trust to see what they could do about the condition of the ruins of Margam Abbey, which were giving them cause for concern. With grant aid from Cadw, we supervised them to carry out a condition survey. The results fed into a programme of restoration by Neath Port Talbot County Borough council – the ruins are now in excellent condition.
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In the 1970s and 1980s, the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical monuments for Wales carried out intensive building and earthwork survey work on the remains of Cistercian granges in Glamorgan, but in Gwent. More recently, the Rev Dr David Williams has reviewed maps and other documents to locate Cistercian granges over the whole of Wales. In this project we visited all those where their looked as though there were structures or earthworks there that were neither scheduled nor listed.
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In 2013 the Trust and students from Swansea University carried out a building survey of Neath Abbey.
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