Llanthony Priory () is a partly ruined former
Augustinian priory
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...
in the secluded
Vale of Ewyas
The Vale of Ewyas () is the steep-sided and secluded valley of the River Honddu, in the Black Mountains of Wales and within the Brecon Beacons National Park. As well as its outstanding beauty, it is known for the ruins of Llanthony Priory, ...
, a steep-sided once-glaciated valley within the
Black Mountains area of the
Brecon Beacons
The Brecon Beacons (; ) are a mountain range in Wales. The range includes South Wales's highest mountain, Pen y Fan (), its twin summit Corn Du (), and Craig Gwaun Taf (), which are the three highest peaks in the range. The Brecon Beacons ha ...
National Park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
in
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...
, south east Wales. It lies seven miles north of
Abergavenny
Abergavenny (; , , archaically , ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately from the England–Wales border, border with England and is loca ...
on an old road to
Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye, or simply Hay (; or simply ), is a market town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as a book town, "town of books"; it is both the National Book Town of Wales and the s ...
at
Llanthony. The priory ruins lie to the west of the prominent
Hatterrall Ridge, a limb of the Black mountains. The main ruins are under the care of
Cadw
(, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...
and entrance is free.
The priory is a
Grade I listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
as of 1 September 1956. Within the precincts of the Priory are three other buildings with
Grade I listed status: the
Abbey Hotel, listed on 1 September 1956;
St David's Church, listed on the same date, and
Court Farm Barn, listed on 9 January in the same year.
History
Foundation
The priory dates back to around the year 1100, when one of Hugh de Lacy's knights called William reputedly came upon a ruined chapel of
St. David in this location; he was inspired to devote himself to solitary prayer and study. He was joined by Ersinius, a former Chaplain to
Queen Matilda, the wife of King
Henry I, and then a band of followers. A church was built on the site, dedicated to
St John the Baptist, and consecrated in 1108. By 1118, a group of around 40 canons founded there a priory of
Canons Regular
The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into Religious order (Catholic), religious orders, differing from both Secular clergy, ...
, the first in Wales.
In 1135, after persistent attacks from the local Welsh population, the monks retreated to
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...
where they founded a secondary cell,
Llanthony Secunda. However, around 1186 another member of the de Lacy family,
Hugh, the fifth baron, endowed the estate with funds from his Irish estates to rebuild the priory church, and this work was completed by 1217. There are also letters from Pope Clement III (CSM, i, p. 157–159), between 1185 and 1188, confirming further grants and gifts to the priory from
Adam de Feypo
Adam de Feypo is first mentioned in ''The Red Book of the Echequer 1166, p283 (England)'' as being one of the knights of Hugh de Lacy in Herefordshire, England. He was possibly a castellan of one of the de Lacy castles on the Welsh border. As the ...
and Geoffrey de Cusack in Ireland.
The Priory became one of the great medieval buildings in Wales, in a mixture of
Norman and
Gothic architectural styles. Renewed building took place around 1325, with a new gatehouse. On 4 April 1327 (Palm Sunday), the deposed
Edward II stayed at the Priory on his way from Kenilworth Castle to Berkeley Castle, where he is alleged to have been murdered.
Dissolution
Following
Owain Glyndŵr
Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...
's rebellion in the early 15th century, the Priory seems to have been barely functioning. In 1481, it was formally merged with its daughter cell in Gloucester and, after 1538, both houses were suppressed by
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
's
dissolution of the monasteries.
The 18th and 19th centuries

The buildings at Llanthony gradually decayed after the Dissolution to a ruin although, in the early 18th century, the medieval infirmary was converted to the
Church of St David. In 1799, the estate was bought by Colonel Sir Mark Wood, the owner of
Piercefield House near
Chepstow
Chepstow () is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western end of the ...
, who converted some of the buildings into a domestic house and shooting box. He then sold the estate in 1807 to the poet
Walter Savage Landor
Walter Savage Landor (30 January 177517 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose ''Imaginary Conversations,'' and the poem "Rose Aylmer," but the critical acclaim he received from contempora ...
.
Landor needed an Act of Parliament, passed in 1809, to be allowed to pull down some of Wood's buildings and construct a house, which was never finished. He wanted to become a model country gentleman, planting trees, importing sheep from Spain and improving the roads. There is still an avenue of trees in the area known as ''Landor's Larches'' and many old chestnuts have been dated back to his time.
John Sansom "Note for Brecon Beacons Park Society
Landor described the idylls of country life, including the nightingales and glow-worms in the valley to his friend Robert Southey. However, the idyll was not to last long as, for the next three years, Landor was worried by the combined vexation of neighbours and tenants, lawyers and lords-lieutenant and even the Bishop of St David's. Many of his troubles stemmed from petty squabbles, arising from his headstrong and impetuous nature. He wasted money trying to improve the land and the condition of the poorer inhabitants. The final straw was when he let his farmland to one Charles Betham, whom Landor viewed as incompetent and extravagant and who paid no rent. After an expensive action to recover the debts from Betham, Landor had had enough and decided to leave the country, abandoning Llanthony to his creditorschurch of – principally his mother. The estate was administered in his absence by his mother and cousin, but many of the buildings continued to disintegrate thereafter.
In 1869, Joseph Leycester Lyne (known as Father Ignatius) founded an Anglican monastic institution in nearby Capel-y-ffin
is a hamlet near the English-Welsh border, a couple of miles north of Llanthony in Powys, Wales. It lies within the Black Mountains and within the Brecon Beacons National Park. The nearest town is Hay-on-Wye, some to the northwest.
History ...
, which he named Llanthony Abbey. It survived until 1908 and its buildings were later the home of artist Eric Gill.
Later history
The ruins have attracted artists over the years, including J. M. W. Turner who painted them from the opposite hillside. The priory was acquired by the Knight family in the 20th century.
Wood's house later became the Abbey Hotel. The remaining ruins are protected by Cadw
(, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...
and entrance to the ruins is free of charge to visitors.
See also
* List of monastic houses in Wales
* William of Wycombe
References
Sources
*
*J. Newman (2000) ''The Buildings of Wales – Gwent / Monmouthshire'' ()
External links
Llanthony Priory in the Vale of Ewyas: the landscape impact of a medieval Priory in the Welsh Marches
Description of Llanthony in the 12th century
by Giraldus Cambrensis
*
{{Authority control
Grade I listed churches in Monmouthshire
Buildings and structures in Monmouthshire
Scheduled monuments in Monmouthshire
Augustinian monasteries in Wales
Medieval history of Wales
Black Mountains, Wales
1100s establishments in Wales
Christian monasteries established in the 1100s
Tourist attractions in Monmouthshire
Ruins in Wales
12th-century establishments in Wales
1538 disestablishments in Europe
Cadw
Grade I listed monasteries
Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation