Abbeys and Priories of Medieval Wales

By Janet Burton and Karen Stöber

Abbeys and Priories of Medieval Wales is the first comprehensive, illustrated guide to the religious houses of Wales from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries. It offers a thorough introduction to the history of the monastic orders in Wales (the Benedictines, Cluniacs, Augustinians, Premonstratensians, Cistercians, the military orders and the friars), and to life inside medieval Welsh monasteries and nunneries, in addition to providing the histories of almost sixty communities of religious men and women, with descriptions of the standing remains of their buildings. As well as a being a scholarly book, a number of maps, ground plans and practical information make this an indispensable guide for visitors to Wales’s monastic heritage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Wales Press
• Release date: Feb 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781783161829

Book preview

ABBEYS AND PRIORIES

OF MEDIEVAL WALES

ABBEYS AND PRIORIES

OF MEDIEVAL WALES

JANET BURTON AND KAREN STÖBER

© Janet Burton and Karen Stöber, 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to The University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP.

www.uwp.co.uk

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN:     978-1-78316-179-9 (hardback)

                978-1-78316-180-5 (paperback)

eISBN:   978-1-78316-182-9

The right of Janet Burton and Karen Stöber to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Cover image: Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire, Wales. Photograph Billy Stock/Photo library Wales.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

List of maps

List of images

Abbreviations

Introduction

Foreword to Gazetteer

Gazetteer of Abbeys and Priories

Glossary

Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE ABBEYS AND PRIORIES of medieval Wales have always had their admirers. Ever since the monastic period came to an abrupt end here in the sixteenth century, local people and travellers alike have marvelled at the ruins left behind by what had once been such a prominent presence in the Welsh landscape. This book has grown out of the authors’ wish to make the monastic heritage of Wales more visible, and more accessible to a wider audience.

In a larger context Abbeys and Priories of Medieval Wales is a part of the Monastic Wales project (www.monasticwales.org) and our first thanks go to those who were formative in the planning and on-going work in its development, that is Nigel Callaghan of Technoleg Taliesin, Martin Crampin of the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, University of Wales, and especially to Julie Kerr. During the making of this book we have had much help, advice, and encouragement from many people, whom we would like to thank here. We owe a special thank you to Martin Crampin for supplying many photographs and making the maps for Abbeys and Priories, and for all his tireless help and support throughout. Stuart Harrison has been most generous in allowing us access to his library of images. We are also grateful to Jane Cartwright for the photograph of the stained glass in Llanllugan, and to postgraduate students in the School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology at University of Wales Trinity Saint David (Lampeter Campus), who have engaged with the Monastic Wales project over the years, and who have supplied images for us, especially Paul Watkins, Therron Welstead, and Ian Bass. Thanks also to the commissioning staff at the University of Wales Press, Angharad Watkins and Llion Wigley, the press’s Production Manager Siân Chapman and the press’s Editor Dafydd Jones, for all their help in the editorial process.

To Dani Leiva a big and special thank you for the lovely drawings he did for us. We are also grateful to David Robinson for letting us use his monastic ground plans, and to Cadw, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, and the National Library of Wales for permission to reproduce their images.

Finally, we are very grateful to the University of Wales Trinity Saint David for generous financial support in the publication of this book, and to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competivity who fund the research project ‘Auctoritas. Església, Cultura i Poder, s.XII–XV’ (HAR2012-31484).

We would like to dedicate this book to four special people, and hope that they will enjoy visiting some of the sites we describe.

To Megan & Isabelle

and

Lara & Sofia

Janet Burton (Lampeter)

Karen Stöber (Lleida)

January 2015

LIST OF MAPS

LIST OF IMAGES

BLACK AND WHITE

1.Aberconwy Abbey: Rood Screen, Church of St Mary and All Saints, Conwy (c.1497–1501). Photograph: Martin Crampin.

2.Aberconwy Abbey (Maenan): Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw and reproduced with permission of the author from David Robinson, The Cistercians In Wales. Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540 (London: Society of Antiquaries, 2006) © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

3.Abergavenny Priory: The fifteenth-century Jesse Tree. Photograph: Therron Welstead.

4.Abergavenny Priory: The tomb of Sir William Hastings (d.1348). Photograph: Karen Stöber.

5.Bardsey Abbey: Remains of the abbey. View from the south. Photograph: RCAHMW digital photographic survey of St Marys Abbey, Bardsey, taken by iain Wright, 06/09/2009. © Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. © Hawlfraint y Goron: Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru.

6.Basingwerk Abbey: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw and reproduced with permission of the author from David Robinson, The Cistercians In Wales. Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540 (London: Society of Antiquaries, 2006) © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

7.Basingwerk Abbey (Holywell): Crutches left at Holywell by modern-day pilgrims. Photograph: Karen Stöber.

8.Basingwerk Abbey: Part of the drainage system. Photograph: Karen Stöber.

9.Basingwerk Abbey: Arcading in the west wall of the refectory. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

10.Beddgelert Priory: Exterior of the church. Photograph: Dani Leiva.

11.Brecon Benedictine Priory: Twelfth-century Romanesque font with heads and animal ornamentation. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

12.Brecon Dominican Friary: Carved wooden figure from the fourteenth-century choir stalls. Photograph: Paul Watkins.

13.Brecon Dominican Friary: Exterior of the former Dominican church. Photograph: Paul Watkins.

14.Caldey Priory: Exterior of the church. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

15.Artist’s impression of a chapter meeting in a Benedictine monastery. Drawing: Dani Leiva.

16.Chepstow Priory: Exterior of the church from the west. Photograph: Paul Watkins.

17.Cwmhir Abbey: Remains of the nave. Drawing: Dani Leiva.

18.Denbigh Friary: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

19.Denbigh Friary: General exterior view of the Carmelite Friary in c.1946. Photograph: E. Le Grice. © Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales © Hawlfraint y Goron: Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru.

20.Ewenny Priory: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

21.Ewenny Priory: Carved animal head (c.1120). Photograph: Martin Crampin.

22.Ewenny Priory: Interior of the church. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

23.Aerial view of Goldcliff Point. Photograph: RCAHMW aerial photograph of Goldcliff Priory, taken by C. R. Musson, 18 July 1994. © Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales © Hawlfraint y Goron: Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru.

24.Haverfordwest Augustinian Priory: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw ©Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

25.Kidwelly Priory: Exterior of the church. Photograph: Therron Welstead.

26.Llanfaes Friary: Siwan’s tomb, now in the parish church at Beaumaris. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

27.Llangenydd Priory: Exterior of the church. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

28.Llangua Priory: Exterior of the church. Photograph: Therron Welstead.

29.Llanllugan Abbey: Exterior of the church. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

30.Llanthony Priory: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

31.Llanthony Priory: The west front of the church. Photograph: Dani Leiva.

32.Malpas Church, Monmouthshire. Worthington G. Smith, 1879, engraving after J. O. Westwood, c.1850.

33.Margam Abbey: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw and reproduced with permission of the author from David Robinson, The Cistercians in Wales. Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540 (London: Society of Antiquaries, 2006) © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

34.Artist’s impression of Cistercian monks in a refectory. Drawing: Dani Leiva.

35.Margam Abbey: The west front of the church. Photograph: Janet Burton.

36.Neath Abbey: Carved stone head. Drawing: Dani Leiva.

37.Neath Abbey: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw and reproduced with permission of the author from David Robinson, The Cistercians in Wales. Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540 (London: Society of Antiquaries, 2006) © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

38.Artist’s impression of the night stairs in a Cistercian monastery. Drawing: Dani Leiva.

39.Neath Abbey: The lay brothers’ lane in the west cloister alley. Photograph: Paul Watkins.

40.Neath Abbey: View from the north aisle with the Tudor house in the background. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

41.Pembroke (Monkton) Priory: Exterior of the church. Photograph: Paul Watkins.

42.Pembroke (Monkton) Priory: The undercroft, Monkton Old Hall. Photograph: Nigel Callaghan.

43.Penmon Priory: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

44.Penmon Priory: Interior of the south cloister range. Photograph: Karen Stöber.

45.Penmon Priory: Mid-twelfth-century tympanum. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

46.Penmon Priory: Detail of the tower arch. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

47.Puffin Island: Exterior view of the monastic church. Photograph: RCAHMW archive, 17 March 1929. © Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales © Hawlfraint y Goron: Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru.

48.Ruthin Priory: Fourteenth-century corbel head. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

49.St Clears Priory: Capitals. Drawing: Dani Leiva.

50.St Dogmaels Abbey: Angel corbel. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

51.Strata Florida Abbey: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw and reproduced with permission of the author from David Robinson, The Cistercians in Wales. Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540 (London: Society of Antiquaries, 2006) © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

52.Strata Florida Abbey: Grave marker. Photograph: Janet Burton.

53.Strata Florida Abbey: View down the nave looking west. Photograph: Janet Burton.

54.Strata Marcella Abbey: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw and reproduced with permission of the author from David Robinson, The Cistercians in Wales. Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540 (London: Society of Antiquaries, 2006) © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

55.Strata Marcella Abbey: Capital, now in Buttington parish church. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

56.Strata Marcella Abbey: Charter of Gwenwnwyn ab Owain Cyfeiliog in favour of Strata Marcella, 22 February 1190/1. Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Wynnstay Estate Records, charter no. 14. By permission of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales.

57.Talley Abbey: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

58.Talley Abbey: The tower crossing. Photograph: Therron Welstead.

59.Tintern Abbey: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw and reproduced with permission of the author from David Robinson, The Cistercians In Wales. Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540 (London: Society of Antiquaries, 2006) © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

60.Tintern Abbey: The chapter house. Photograph: Janet Burton.

61.Tintern Abbey: Exterior view of the church. Photograph: Therron Welstead.

62.Usk Priory: The nave of the church. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

63.Valle Crucis Abbey: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw and reproduced with permission of the author from David Robinson, The Cistercians In Wales. Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540 (London: Society of Antiquaries, 2006) © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

64.Valle Crucis Abbey: The cloister and east range. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

65.Whitland Abbey: Ground plan, illustration supplied by Cadw and reproduced with permission of the author from David Robinson, The Cistercians In Wales. Architecture and Archaeology 1130–1540 (London: Society of Antiquaries, 2006) © Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright).

COLOUR

1.Basingwerk Abbey (Holywell): The well at Holywell. Photograph: Karen Stöber.

2.Brecon Benedictine Priory: Decorative wooden panel (fifteenth to early sixteenth-century). Photograph: Martin Crampin.

3.Brecon Dominican Friary: Carved wooden lion from the fourteenth-century choir stalls. Photograph: Paul Watkins.

4.Carmarthen Augustinian Priory: The Black Book of Carmarthen. Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 1, fol. 3v. By permission of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales.

5.Cymer Abbey: Interior of the church from the west. Photograph: Dani Leiva.

6.Ewenny Priory: The north gate house. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

7.Haverfordwest Augustinian Priory: The medieval gardens. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

8.Llanllugan Abbey: Mid- to late-fifteenth-century stained glass window. Photograph: Jane Cartwright.

9.Llanthony Priory: The nave arcade. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

10.Llanthony Priory: Detail of the nave arcade and tower crossing. Photograph: Dani Leiva.

11.Margam Abbey: The chapter house. Photograph: Janet Burton

12.Monmouth Priory: Medieval floor tiles. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

13.Puffin Island: Aerial view. Photograph: RCAHMW aerial photograph of Puffin Island Priory Cell, St Seiriol’s Church, taken by T. G. Driver, 10 January 1999. © Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. © Hawlfraint y Goron: Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru.

14.St Clears Priory: The chancel arch. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

15.Strata Florida Abbey: Detail of the west doorway. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

16.Strata Florida Abbey: Man with a mirror tile (fourteenth century). Photograph: Martin Crampin.

17.Tintern Abbey: The nave. Photograph: Martin Crampin.

18.Valle Crucis Abbey: The chapter house. Photograph: Karen Stöber.

19.Valle Crucis Abbey: West Gable with inscription. Photograph: Janet Burton.

20.Whitland Abbey: Remains of claustral buildings. Photograph: Paul Watkins.

ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION

MONASTIC WALES

I faithfully admonish you to found a monastery … as a citadel of God against Satan, where the cowled champions may engage in ceaseless combat against Behemoth for your soul (OV iii: 144–7).

IT WAS THUS that a medieval historian, Orderic Vitalis, characterised the importance of religious houses to medieval society: monasteries were like castles, though manned by spiritual not earthly soldiers, troops whose prayers were weapons against the devil (Behemoth). The context of his remark was an imaginary conversation between his father, a chaplain named Odelerius and here the speaker, and Earl Roger of Montgomery, a Norman incomer and one of the elite brought to England by Duke William, later King William I. Odelerius uses these words to persuade the earl to found a monastery, Shrewsbury Abbey, on the borders of England and Wales, for the benefit of his soul and – incidentally but no less importantly – to secure his political and social position in what was for him a new land. Orderic was born at Atcham (Shropshire) around 1075, and brought up for the first ten years of his life at Shrewsbury. When he left, sent by his father as a child oblate to be brought up to the monastic life at the Norman abbey of St Evroult, and never to see his native land again, a form of monasticism quite unlike the native clas church was beginning to percolate into Wales. In the century and a half that followed some sixty religious houses were established there, large and small, in town and countryside, following different rules but with the same basic goals: to allow men and women to devote themselves to a life of prayer and spiritual fulfilment. Although Orderic was himself a monk – and therefore likely to stress the importance of the way of life that had been chosen for him – we may be sure that society at large regarded those communities of men and women who committed themselves to a life of seclusion, prayer, and contemplation, as having a central role in medieval society. Monks, nuns, canons, and friars were the channels through which intercession was made for the well-being of humankind – collectively they were ‘citadels of God’. However, they came also to offer tangible benefits to society at large: as centres of education and hospitality, as landlords and agents of economic power, as builders and patrons of art and literature. Although some of sites occupied by Welsh religious houses may have been liminal, monasticism itself was far from marginal.

WHAT’S IN A NAME (AND A COLOUR)?

A glance at a conventional map of Monastic Wales will show monasteries with different names and labels. So, what do these signify and how were these groups distinctive? Before attempting to answer that question it is important to stress that there were as many similarities as there were differences. Monasteries were among the first communities to frame rules that governed how they were run: the daily routine followed within their walls; how men became monks and women became nuns; and the chain of command within each house. The rule that gained most currency in Western Europe was that compiled by St Benedict around the middle of the sixth century. Although there were many other rules – and sometimes monasteries in the centuries after Benedict followed not one rule but an amalgam of several – the Rule of St Benedict achieved a dominant position and was adopted by the majority of monastic houses both for men and for women. Hence, such houses are termed Benedictine. The Benedictines are also known as the Black Monks, from the colour of their habit. Benedictine houses were mostly independent, that is, they did not have any constitutional ties one with another. However, there were a number of important exceptions. First, from around the tenth century numerous monastic houses began to band together into informal networks, offering mutual prayers and commemoration for their deceased brothers. Secondly, we see the foundation of dependent monasteries, which became known as priories. A Benedictine abbey would send a group of monks to make a new foundation, but instead of that new house achieving independence, it would remain dependent on its mother house.

Both these features can be observed in the rise of new monastic congregations and orders that emerged from the tenth century onwards; their houses enjoyed a constitutional relationship that moved beyond the sharing of mutual prayers. In 909–10 a very significant foundation was made at Cluny in Burgundy. Cluny followed the Rule of St Benedict and therefore was, and remained, Benedictine. However, in time it grafted on to the Rule a host of new practices – mostly liturgical – and perceived of its place in the wider church in a different way to earlier movements. It attempted to free itself from the power of lay patrons (about whom more will be said below), and to compensate it developed a close relationship with the papacy, making itself directly dependent on Rome to the exclusion of lay rulers and local bishops. Cluny emerged and flourished at a time when parts of Europe were subject to hostile invasions, of Vikings from the north, Moslems from the south, and Magyars from the east. It must have seemed to offer a beacon of salvation, hope, and beauty (the phrase ‘the beauty of holiness’ has been used to capture the liturgical and architectural splendour associated with Cluny) in troubled and violent times. Such was its attraction that a number of existing houses decided voluntarily to adopt Cluny’s customs, while men and women who wished to establish a new monastic house brought monks either from Cluny or one of its daughter houses or associated abbeys. Such houses became known as Cluniac. They remained Benedictine in that they followed the Rule of St Benedict, but they were also members of a congregation that followed the same customs, and owed allegiance to the abbot of Cluny as head of the congregation. Daily life in Cluniac houses was dominated by an elaborate liturgy, including offices for the dead, and a Cluniac monk would have spent most of his waking hours in church.

Cluny flourished in the eleventh century and into the twelfth under a succession of wise and capable abbots. However, by the late eleventh century society was changing and monasticism, which often mirrored social, economic, cultural, and intellectual developments, was changing too. The causes are complex, and beyond the scope of this Introduction. Suffice it to say that there came to be a reaction against the complexities of monastic practices current at the time. Some felt that the elaboration of the liturgy, the daily round of services in the monastic church, had led to a distortion of Benedict’s carefully devised routine of communal prayer, manual labour, and private reading and devotion: the first activity had squeezed out the other two. Others saw monasteries being founded in and around towns, and were uncomfortable with the potentially close interaction between monks and townsfolk. Still more were concerned about the conspicuous wealth of many monastic houses, and the way in which this wealth was displayed through their buildings and treasures.

The reaction of a number of individual monks was to turn their back on organised monastic life within communities and opt instead for the solitary life of the hermit. Indeed this would have seemed a perfectly acceptable and logical step. The monastic life had originated in the deserts of Egypt and in Palestine, and the earliest monks were hermits, or solitaries. Benedict in his Rule himself commended the hermit life, though was careful to stipulate that a long period of probation or training in the community was a necessary pre-requisite to the ‘solitary combat of the desert’ (RSB 1). And so it was that men like Robert of Arbrissel and Bernard of Tiron in France, and Romuald of Ravenna and John Gualbert in Italy, left their monasteries to live the solitary life. Some lay people shunned society as well. Vitalis gave up his position as clerk to Count Robert of Mortain in northern France and like the monks mentioned above fled to the solitude of the forests. To many of these men it was not just a desire for solitude that motivated them. Some felt driven to preach. Nearly all embraced a life of poverty.

Such men are known to us because someone later decided to write about them. There must have been hundreds more men and women who dropped out of society – lay or monastic – who simply do not appear in the historical record. What set Robert, Bernard, and Vitalis, aside was that their careers did not end with their decision to become hermits, and what happened to them next tells us something very important about the appeal of the hermit life in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. They were not allowed to enjoy their solitary life, but were joined by others and – ironically perhaps – ended by founding abbeys to accommodate their followers. Bernard founded a house at Tiron and Vitalis one at Savigny: but the story continued. The way of life they adopted, a return to the Rule of St Benedict in its simple form, appealed to would-be monks and to patrons, and similar houses were founded on both sides of the Channel. And two new monastic orders emerged, affiliated to their respective mother houses. The order of Tiron (Tironensian) and that of Savigny (Savigniac) both make an appearance in Wales.

However, the name that dominates the new or reformed orders – then as now – was that of Cîteaux, head of what became the Cistercian Order. The New Monastery, as Cîteaux was first known, originated in a mass walk out from a Benedictine monastery in Burgundy known as Molesme. Moreover, the secession was led by the abbot of Molesme, Robert. The story of the foundation of Cîteaux has been told many times, both by twelfth-century Cistercians and by modern historians. In fact, the Cistercians retold and refashioned their history so many times that it is difficult to know where what must have originated as oral tradition among the monks blended into later representation or a desire to create a self-identity. The story is a complex one, but we may be sure that what lay at the heart of the emergence of the Cistercian Order was a desire to return to the primitive observance of the Rule of St Benedict, to apostolic poverty (the lack of possessions associated with Christ’s apostles and the earliest Christians), which itself led the Cistercians to a simplicity of building style and church ornament appropriate to that poverty, and to a sense of solitude and seclusion that evoked the deserts of the earliest hermit-monks (Cistercian literature abounds with the words ‘desert’ and ‘wilderness’ to describe Cistercian sites).

So far, perhaps, there seems to be little to distinguish the Cistercians from the followers of Vitalis and Bernard, apart from their desire to record their own history. However, there were differences, and these may in part account for the success of the Cistercian Order, which by the time of the death in 1153 of the most famous of all Cistercians, Bernard of Clairvaux, numbered some 350 abbeys throughout Europe. The Cistercians not only developed distinctive ideas on how best to achieve their ideals about the practice of the monastic life, but they put in place two administrative structures to help realise their goals. These