Site details: Cwmhir


Home dershane Project team Project News Future plans Contact us Search the database Browse list of sites Browse list of orders Browse bibliography & archives Browse people Browse articles Glossary of terms Monastic Wales is not responsible for the content of external internet sites	Display site: Cwmhir (Abbey) also known as: Abbey Cwmhir; Abaty Cwm Hir Order: Cistercian The monks of Cwmhir, 'the abbey of the long valley', had divided loyalties. It was founded by the Welsh ruler of Maelienydd but from time to time the area came under the control of the Mortimer family. The community thus enjoyed the patronage of the native Welsh and the Marcher lords. Equally, their position between the two sources of power left them subject to danger.show details of standing remains Standing remains Only fragmentary remains of the nave survive. However five of the nave bays have been preserved since 1540 in the parish church at Llanidloes, some ten miles away. It is thought that the corbel found at Deuanmor (Ty Faenor) was removed from Cwmhir in the seventeenth century; it is of a male head with almond eyes and a curly beard. Dedicated to: Virgin Mary Medieval Diocese: St David's Affiliated to: Whitland (mother-house) Lordship at foundation: Maelienydd Access: Open to public Main events in the history of this site 1176: Foundation - The abbey was founded by Cadwallon ap Madog (d. 1179) and colonised by monks from Whitland Abbey. The house was situated on the north bank of the Clywedog brook. [5 sources] 1179: Patronage - Following the death of its founder, Cadwallon, in 1179 Cwmhir was patronised by Roger Mortimer, the Marcher lord who was responsible for Cadwallon's death. [1 source] 1195: Revolt - When the abbot of Cwmhir forbade ale to the lay-brothers they retaliated by stealing his horse. [2 sources] 1198-1199: Daughter-house founded - Cwmhir sent a colony of monks to establish a new house at Cymer, NW Wales. [3 sources] 1199: Charter - Roger Mortimer, lord of Maelienydd, issued a significant charter to the abbey in memory of his predecessors and in honour of those who had died in the conquest of 1195. [4 sources] 1214: Royal protection - Following the death of Roger Mortimer, King John took the abbey into royal protection. [2 sources] 1228: Destruction - One of Cwmhir's granges was burnt by royal troops. [1 source] 1231-2: Royal confirmation - Henry III granted the community various privileges and issued a confirmation charter. [3 sources] 1231: Allegations - Henry III attacked the house after allegations that a member of the Cwmhir community was responsible for tricking a troop of English soldiers into ambush. [2 sources] 1232: Royal confirmation - Henry III reconfirmed his father's charter; this and King John's charter of protection in 1214 provide a valuable insight into the nature of the abbey's original endowment. [1 source] 1234: Burial - Cadwallon ap Maelgwn was buried at the abbey. [2 sources] 1252-4: Royal support - Henry III further supported the abbey by instructing the men of Montgomeryshire not to waste or destroy the community's woods within their bailiwick. [2 sources] 1252: Destruction - The abbey's woods in Ceri were damaged by the men of Montgomery. [2 sources] 1282: Burial - Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was buried at the house following his death in December 1282. [2 sources] 1291: Wealth - The house had an estimated income of £35 12s 0d. [4 sources] 1381: Clerical poll tax - Payment required from the community: [1 source][1 archive] 1387-9: Numbers - At this time there were eight monks at Cwmhir. [1 source] c.1401: Destruction - The abbey suffered destruction during the Owain Glyn DÅµr revolt. [3 sources] 1524: Bequest - Rhys ap Thomas, who died in 1525, left £8 to the community to buy a pair of organs for the abbey. [2 sources] c.1532: Numbers - At this time there were three monks. [1 source] c.1535: Wealth - According to the Valor Ecclesiasticus the abbey had a net income of £28 17s 4d. [3 sources][1 archive] 1537: Dissolution - On 2 March 1537 the abbey was suppressed. At this time there were just three monks. [6 sources] c.1540: Fabric removed - Five bays of the nave arcade were taken to Llanidloes parish church where they have since remained. View. [1 source] + 20 minor events. Show minor events People associated with this site Abbots of Cwmhir Cadwallon ap Madog , Welsh prince; ruler of Maelienydd (founder) John Leland , antiquary, poet (visits) Llywelyn ap Gruffudd , Prince of Wales (Buried at house) Owain Glyn D?r; Owen Glendower; Owain ap Gruffudd Fychan , declared prince of Wales (Causes destruction) Rhys ap Thomas , Sir (benefactor) Roger (II) de Mortimer , lord of Wigmore (patron) Bibliographical sources 70 Printed sources show sources 'Royal ruins safeguarded', Heritage in Wales, 2 (1998 (autumn)) The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales, I, 940-1216, ed. D. Knowles, C. Brooke and V. London (London, 1972; 2001) pp. 126, 270 The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales, II, 1216-1377, ed. D. M. Smith and V. London (CUP: Cambridge, 2001) p. 258 The Cistercian Abbeys of Britain: far from the concourse of men, ed. David M. Robinson (London, 1998) pp. 94-96 The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales, III, 1377-1540, ed. David M. Smith (CUP: Cambridge, 2008) p. 261 Statuta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cisterciensis ab Anno 1116 ad Annum 1786, 8 vols, ed. Josef Canivez (Louvain, 1933-1941) Medieval Monasteries of Great Britain, ed. Lionel Butler and Christopher Given-Wilson (London, 1979) p. 201 Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales, ed. R. Neville Hadcock and David Knowles (Harlow, 1971) pp. 112, 115 Banks, R. W., 'Notes to the account of Cwmhir Abbey, Radnorshire', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 5th series, 5:19 (1888), pp. 204-217 Bell, David, An index of authors and works in Cistercian libraries in Great Britain (Kalamazoo, 1992) Blockley, K., 'Abbeycwmhir', Archaeology in Wales, 38 (1998), p. 140 Brand, J. D., 'A find of late twelfth-century French coins at Abbey Cwmhir in Mid-Wales', Bulletin de la Societe Francaise de Numismatique Paris, 33.9 (1978), pp. 372-374 Brooksby, H., 'A twelfth-century relic of Abbey Cwm-hir?', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 119 (1970), pp. 132-133 Burton, Janet, 'The foundation of the British Cistercian houses', in Cistercian Art and Architecture in the British Isles, ed. Christopher Norton and David Park (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 24-39 Butler, L. A. S., 'The lost choir: What was built at three Cistercian abbey churches in Wales?', in Perspectives for an Architecture of Solitude: Essays on Cistercians, Art and Architecture in Honour of Peter Fergusson, Medieval church studies, 11; CÃ®teaux. Studia et documenta, 13, ed. Terryl N. Kinder (Turnhout, 2004), pp. 115-123 Charles, B. G, 'An early charter of the abbey of Cwmhir', Transactions of the Radnorshire Society (1970), pp. 68-74 Cole, E. J. L., 'Cistercian candidates', Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 20 (1950), pp. 13-18 Cooper, R., Abbeys and Priories of Wales (Swansea, 1992) pp. 51-53 Cowley, F. G., The Monastic Order in South Wales 1066-1349 (Cardiff, 1977) Crump, J. J., 'The Mortimer family and the making of the march', in Thirteenth century England, 6, ed. M. Prestwich, R. H. Britnell and R. Frame (Woodbridge, 1997), pp. 117-126 Davies, D. R., 'Abbey Cwmhir', Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 16 (1946), pp. 33-42 Davies, D. S., 'Abbey Cwm Hir', Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 4 (1934), pp. 55-61 Davies, J., The Stones of Abbey Cwmhir (Llandidrod Wells, 1992) Davies, John, Abbey Cwmhir in Radnorshire: History of the Abbey (The Abbey Cwmhir Heritage Trust: Cwmhir, 1999) Davies, John, 'Cerrig Abaty Cwm-hir = The Stones of Cwmhir Abbey', in Cerrig Yng Nghymru: Deunyddiau, Treftadaeth a Chadwraeth: Papurau o Gynhadledd Cerrig Yng Nghymru, Caerdydd 2002 = Stone in Wales: Materials, Heritage and Conservation: Papers from the Welsh Stone Conference, Cardiff 2002, ed. Malcolm R. Coulson (Cardiff, 2005), pp. 49-53 Day, E. H., 'The Cistercian abbey of Cwm Hir', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 6th series, 11 (1911), pp. 9-25 Day, E. H., 'The Cistercian Abbey of Cwm Hir immediately before the Dissolution', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 7th series, 79 (1924), pp. 284-290 Dunn, Elizabeth, 'Owain Glynd?r and Radnorshire', Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 67 (1937), pp. 27-35 Evans, D., Register of Landscapes, Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Part 1, Parks and Gardens: Powys (Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments: Cardiff, 1999) pp. 118-122 Fleming, A., 'Horses, elites...and long-distance roads', Landscapes, 11:2 (2010), pp. 1-20 Fleming, Andrew, 'The Making of a Medieval Road: the Monk’s Trod Routeway, Mid Wales', Landscapes, 10: 1 (2009), pp. 77-100 Gambrell, Anthony, 'Abbey in Welsh Uplands', Country Quest, 29: 7 (1988), pp. 28, 40 Gray, Madeleine, 'Preface to Cistercians in Wales and the west', Archaeologia Cambrensis, (2007), pp. 17-26 Grigson, G., 'The abbey of the long vale', Country Life, 125, pp. 94-96 Hamer, E., 'A parochial account of Llanidloes', Montgomeryshire Collection, 6 (1873) pp. 163-176 Harper, Sally, Music in Welsh Culture before 1650: A Study of the Principal Sources (Ashgate: Aldershot, 2007) Haslam, Richard, The Buildings of Wales: Powys (Harmondsworth, 1979) pp. 140-142, 215-216 Hurlock, Kathryn, 'Pilgrimage', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches, ed. Janet Burton and Karen Stöber (University of Wales: Cardiff, 2013), pp. 119-131 Jones, N. W., 'Cwmhir Abbey, Abbeycwmhir', Archaeology in Wales, 40 (2000), pp. 124-6 Jones, N. W., 'Abbeycwmhir: re-survey of the ruins', Clwyd-Powys Arch. Trust Report (unpublished), 225: 2 (Welshpool, 2000) Jones, N. W. and Thomas, D., 'Abbeycwmhir', Archaeology in Wales, 37 (1997), p. 106 Lovegrove, E. W., 'Llanidloes Church', Archaeologia Cambriensis, 87 (1932), pp. 434-435 Newbolt, M. R., The Cistercians in Britain, together with a Catalogue of Cistercian Houses in England, Scotland and Wales, with notes by Wilfred Steer (Wantage, 1957) O'Sullivan, J. F., Cistercian settlements in Wales and Monmouthshire, 1140-1540, Fordham Univ. Studies, History series, 2 (New York, 1947) pp. 10-11 Percival, David, 'The boundary of the medieval grange of Dolhelfa', Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 63 (1993), pp. 42-44 RCAHMCW, Radnor: RCAHMCW Monmouthshire, Inventories (London, 1913) pp. 3-7 Radford, Courtenay Arthur Ralegh, 'The Cistercian abbey of Cwmhir, Radnorshire', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 131 (1982), pp. 58-76 Rees, Sian E., Jones, Nigel W. and Silvester, Robert J., 'Conservation and investigation at Cwmhir Abbey, Powys', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 154 (2007), pp. 133-151 Rees, W. J., 'Account of Cwmhir Abbey, Radnorshire', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 4:16 (1849), pp. 233-260 Remfry, P. M., Short Political History of Abbey Cwmhir and its Patrons, 1176 to 1282 (Worcester, 1995) Remfry, P. M., 'Cadwallon ap Madog Rex de Delvain, 1140-1179 and the re-establishment of local autonomy in Cynllibiwg', Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 65 (1995), pp. 11-32 Remfry, P.M., The Political History of Abbey Cwmhir, 1176 to 1282 and the Families of Elystan Godrydd, Mortimer and the Princes of Gwynedd (Worcester, 1994,) Robinson, David M., The Cistercians in Wales: Architecture and Archaeology 1130-1540, Society of Antiquaries of London, Research Committee Report (London, 2006) pp. 230-234 Robinson, David M. and Harrison, Stuart, 'Cistercian Cloisters in England and Wales: Part I', Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 159 (2006), pp. 131-207 Rowley-Morris, E., 'Possessions of the abbot and convent of Cwmhir in Kerry', Mongomeryshire Collections, 27 (1893), pp. 81-91 Stephenson, D., 'Llywelyn Fawr, the Mortimers, and Cwmhir Abbey: the Politics of Monastic Rebuilding', The Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 80 (2010), pp. 29-41 Stephenson, David, 'The rulers of Gwynedd and Powys', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches, ed. Janet Burton and Karen StÃ¶ber (University of Wales: Cardiff, 2013), pp. 89-102 Stephenson, David, 'The chronicler at Cwm-hir abbey, 1257-63: the construction of a Welsh chronicle', in Wales and the Welsh in the Middle Ages, ed. R. A. Griffiths and P. R. Schofield (University of Wales Press: Cardiff, 2011), pp. 29-45 Tibbott, Gildas, 'An Abbey-Cwmhir relic abroad', Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 5 (1935), pp. 64-67 Williams, David H., The Welsh Cistercians (Leominster, 2001) Williams, David H., The Cistercians in the Early Middle Ages (Leominster, 1998) Williams, David H., Atlas of Cistercian Lands in Wales (Cardiff, 1990) pp. 40-1 Williams, David H., Abbey-Cwmhir (Powys County Council: Llandrindod Wells, 1978) Williams, David H., 'Catalogue of Welsh ecclesiastical seals as known down to AD 1600, 4: Seals of Cistercian monasteries', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 136 (1988), pp. 138-155 Williams, David H., 'The White Monks in Powys, I: Cwmhir', Cistercian Studies, 11:2 (1976), pp. 74-101 Williams, David H., 'Stephen William Williams: the archaeologist and soldier: the man and his family', Transactions of the Radnorshire Society, 69 (1999), pp. 131-141 Williams, J., A General History of the County of Radnorshire, ed. E. Davies (Brecknock, 1905) pp. 338-340 Williams, S. W., 'The abbey of Cwmhir, Radnorshire', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 5th series, 7:26 (1890), pp. 150-152 Williams, S. W., 'The Cistercian Abbey of Cwmhir', Montgomeryshire Collections, 24 (1890), pp. 395-416 Williams, S. W., 'The Cistercian abbey of Cwmhir, Radnorshire', Transactions of the Hon Soc Cymmrodorion, (1894-5), pp. 61-98 8 On-line sources show online sources (all open in new window) The Cistercians in Yorkshire Project - Cwmhir (View website) National Museum of Wales - Stone in Wales Conference 2002 (View website) Abbey Cwmhir, Radnorshire (View website) Stone head from Abbey Cwmhir: side view (View website) Stone head from Abbey Cwm-hir (View website) Aerial photograph of Cwmhir Abbey (View website) RCAHMW, Coflein database - Abbey Cwmhir (View website) Silvester, R. J., Hankinson, R., Owen, W. and Jones, N., Medieval and Early Post-Medieval Monastic and Ecclesiastical Sites in East and North-East Wales: The Scheduling Enhancement Programme (report for Cadw) (View website) Archival sources The National Archives, 'Exchequer, King's Remembrancer, Clerical Subsidies - Cwmhir 1381', (Document), (View website) Related articles on Monastic Wales The Cistercians in Wales, Professor Janet Burton Who were the Cistercians?, Professor Janet Burton Images of this site Capitals from Abbey Cwmhir Capitals from Abbey Cwmhir Nave Arcade from Abbey Cwmhir Poll tax return for Cwmhir Abbey, 1381 Ruins of Abbey Cwmhir	Capitals from Abbey Cwmhir, Church of St Idloes, Llanidloes Powys, OS Grid:SO05557110 View site details on COFLEIN (RCAHMW database)[new window]

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