Abbeycwmhir

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Abbeycwmhir
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Abbeycwmhir
Location within Powys
Population235  [1]
OS grid reference SO055711
Principal area
Preserved county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LLANDRINDOD WELLS
Postcode district LD1
Post townRHAYADER
Postcode district LD6
Dialling code 01597
Police Dyfed-Powys
Fire Mid and West Wales
Ambulance Welsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Powys
52°19′49″N3°23′14″W / 52.3303°N 3.3871°W / 52.3303; -3.3871

Abbeycwmhir or Abbey Cwmhir (Welsh : Abaty Cwm Hir, "Abbey in the Long Valley") is a village and community in the valley of the Nant Clywedog in Radnorshire, Powys, Wales. The community includes the hamlet of Bwlch-y-sarnau.

Contents

The Abbey

Aerial view of the ruined abbey and surrounding village Aerial view of Abaty Cwm Hir.jpg
Aerial view of the ruined abbey and surrounding village

The village is named after Cwmhir Abbey, the Cistercian abbey built there in 1143. It was the largest abbey in Wales, but was never completed. Its fourteen bay nave was longer than Canterbury and Salisbury Cathedral naves and twice as long as that at St. Davids. It was a daughter house of Whitland Abbey, and was constructed at the behest of three sons of Madog, the then Prince of southern Powys. The first community at Dyvanner (Welsh : Ty faenor, "Manor House") failed because of the intervention of Hugh de Mortimer, Earl of Hereford, but in 1176 Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth re-established the Abbey on land given by Cadwallon ap Madog. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd is buried near the altar in the nave.

The abbey was burned by the forces of Owain Glyndŵr in 1401. At the time of the dissolution of the monasteries in March 1537, only three monks lived in the abbey.

The Abbey was slighted in 1644, during the English Civil War, although some ruins still remain. There is a memorial stone to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales of direct descent, whose body is buried there. [2]

Places of note

St Mary's Church Abbeycwmhir, St. Mary's Church - geograph.org.uk - 1244165.jpg
St Mary's Church

See also

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References

  1. "Community population 2011" . Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  2. "Abbey Cwm Hir". Abbey Cwmhir Heritage Trust. Abbey Cwmhir Heritage Trust. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  3. "Abbey Cwmhir Hall". Hall Website. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 17 August 2007.